Lin Yusheng served.
A Mu returned with a net shot to the middle.
This was a pretty good shot organization; a middle shot can effectively limit the opponent’s shot angle, making it convenient for both forehand and overhead grabs.
Yusheng, being stubborn, returned to the middle with extremely high quality; the feather of the Badminton shuttlecock grazed the net tape, causing the shuttlecock head to drop rapidly.
A Mu originally intended to smash, but he didn’t expect the quality of this shot to be so high.
In his haste, his upward flick-smash lacked quality, flying high without speed, yet soaring very high.
A Mu quickly retreated, and Yusheng quickly stepped forward, delivering a powerful downward smash!
“Ding—”
A crisp sound of the racket frame hitting the shuttlecock rang out.
A Mu instinctively extended his racket to his backhand area, but it was a bit overdone.
However, the shuttlecock head hit A Mu’s racket frame, flying towards Yusheng’s half of the court.
The two were very close to the net, and this shot flew a bit lower than the previous one.
Because this shot could be described as going straight up and straight down, neither of them could immediately determine if the shuttlecock would clear the net.
Yusheng waited there, ready to extend his racket for a net shot return.
A Mu took a small step forward.
The shuttlecock dropped straight down, and then it hit the net tape.
Everyone held their breath.
Shi Yuqi tightly gripped Li Shifeng’s sleeve next to him.
Liang Wang, watching this, caused his serve to not clear the net again and was reprimanded by Coach Chen Qiqiu, though he too was watching.
Zheng Siwei stretched his neck, and Coach Sun Jun stared intently at the shuttlecock.
The shuttlecock paused on the net tape for a moment, and then—
It fell towards Yusheng’s half of the court.
Yusheng was actually ready, but not completely ready.
His racket was in the upper middle of the net, and seeing the shuttlecock drop towards his side, he immediately raised his racket, intending to return it.
A Mu, on the other hand, went all out, losing his balance to attempt a smash.
If he made a mistake, Yusheng would easily take the point.
Yusheng’s racket face made intimate contact with the shuttlecock head, and then the shuttlecock head flew upwards.
But it saw the net-like shadow shrouding above.
The shuttlecock barely cleared the net, only halfway, and A Mu directly flicked it, sending the shuttlecock to Yusheng’s forehand backcourt.
Yusheng was startled and instinctively swung his racket, but he was met with empty air.
The shuttlecock drew a beautiful arc and landed inside the court.
Lin Qumu placed his racket in his left hand, then vigorously swung his arm and let out a long roar.
This shot was full of surprises, combining skill and luck.
If the shot had been a little weaker, or if the racket face had met the shuttlecock, then Lin Qumu would have certainly lost this point.
Lin Yusheng threw his Badminton racket high into the air, then caught it steadily.
However, Coach Sun Jun called him over to the Lady Referee’s position and sternly criticized him for his inappropriate action.
Lin Yusheng nodded, indicating he understood.
The score: ten to eight, Lin Qumu has game point.
Lin Qumu indicated he wanted to change the shuttlecock, and Lin Yusheng extended his hand in agreement.
Standing firm, A Mu served.
Yusheng dared not be careless and immediately pushed a clear shot to A Mu’s backhand baseline.
The quality of this shot was good, causing A Mu to hesitate for a moment, then he forcefully transitioned with a straight high clear.
Yusheng directly took small steps, found the landing spot, then leaped high, poised and ready.
Seeing this, A Mu slightly lowered his center of gravity, preparing to receive the smash.
However, this was a slicing drop shot down the line.
A Mu’s initial step was rendered useless; he could only lunge forward and lift the shuttlecock.
But the quality of this shot was not high, and being a straight shot, it was very convenient for Yusheng to follow up.
Yusheng took a step forward and directly executed a cross-court smash.
Unexpectedly, A Mu got up very quickly, directly lunging again, pushing the shuttlecock to Yusheng’s backhand baseline.
Yusheng dared not let it go, returning a cross-court backhand clear.
A Mu got up, but this shuttlecock was very close to the sideline, and A Mu dared not let it go either, lifting the shuttlecock with great difficulty.
This high clear made Shi Yuqi nod repeatedly.
When Shi Yuqi is in a passive position and hits a high clear, his accuracy rate is about fifty-five to sixty percent, meaning that when an opponent sees this shuttlecock fly high, they dare not definitively say it will be out of bounds and can only clear it.
At this point, Shi Yuqi would be ready to play the next shot.
Indeed, Yusheng also dared not assert that the shuttlecock was out of bounds, so he had to clear it straight.
A Mu then pushed to Yusheng’s forehand again, Yusheng cleared it straight again, A Mu pushed again, and Yusheng directly leaped to intercept and execute a slicing drop shot.
A Mu stumbled to save the shuttlecock, but it bounced on the net tape.
Yusheng immediately stepped forward and smashed hard; this time A Mu had no way.
The score: nine to ten.
Yusheng served.
A Mu returned a backhand clear to Yusheng’s backhand baseline, and Yusheng cleared it.
Unexpectedly, A Mu directly adopted a net-front pressure tactic, meaning his stance was very far forward, and Yusheng’s return quality was not high, being quite high above the net, just right for a downward smash.
A Mu smashed down without hesitation, Yusheng had just turned around, barely scooping up the shuttlecock that was pressed to his forehand, but A Mu continued to smash down, this time hitting Yusheng’s backhand.
Yusheng extended his racket, barely catching it.
A Mu smashed again, this time the arc was not low, aiming for Yusheng’s racket-holding armpit.
No matter who it is, the armpit of the racket-holding hand is everyone’s weakness, everyone’s.
It’s very awkward, and it’s impossible to return the shuttlecock with high quality.
Yusheng awkwardly returned the shuttlecock, but unexpectedly, this shuttlecock flew high with extremely poor quality.
A Mu immediately took small steps, leaped high at the net, and then directly smashed down violently.
All Yusheng could do was symbolically raise his racket.
The match ended, Lin Qumu defeated Lin Yusheng eleven to nine, winning the exhibition match.
After the match, Lin Yusheng smiled; he didn’t play very excitedly in this match, after all, he felt suppressed by Lin Qumu on the court.
But Lin Qumu also knew that this guy had the capital to contend with him, it’s just that Lin Yusheng couldn’t utilize this capital in time.
Not excited enough, Lin Yusheng couldn’t play to his full potential, although even without excitement, his strength was still considerable.
Shi Yuqi bounced around, looking very happy.
He reached out to Lu Guangzu: “You lost, a bet’s a bet.”
Lu Guangzu smiled helplessly and had no choice but to take out his phone and transfer two hundred yuan to Shi Yuqi.
Before the match started, the National Badminton Team had placed a bet on the outcome between the two young players.
Shi Yuqi, Jia Yifan, Li Shifeng, and Liang Wang and Chen Yufei who were training there, bet on Lin Qumu winning; Chen Qingchen, Lu Guangzu, Zhao Junpeng, He Bingjiao, and Liu Ou bet on Lin Yusheng winning.
The result showed that Shi Yuqi’s team won.
Shi Yuqi happily looked at the extra small money in WeChat, smiling so much his eyes couldn’t open.
He shrugged his neck and gave two thumbs up.
(World Tour Finals.JPG)
Lin Qumu and Lin Yusheng tidied up.
Coach Sun Jun called the two of them over and said, “From this match, it seems your strengths are both very good.
Although you can’t play high-level matches right now, we can let you play in the Switzerland Open ten days from now; you just barely meet the minimum requirement—two players withdrew, and you’re replacing them.
Then you’ll first go to the American Open and the newly established Mexico Open to gain experience.
These two Grand Prix tournaments have no ranking restrictions.
What you need to do is win the championship, then get tickets to the Super 500 tournaments, then the Super 750, Super 1000, and finally, Olympic qualification.”
These words made the two of them somewhat excited.
What was their goal?
Wasn’t it to make the five-star red flag fly at the highest point?
What about small open tournaments?
Even a strong Datuk from Malaysia played in smaller tournaments like chopping vegetables.
“Alright, in a moment we’ll contact the World Badminton Federation to register you.
Get ready and devote yourselves to tomorrow’s training.”
Coach Sun Jun clapped his hands, “Dismissed.”
Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng came before Shuang Lin.
“Hello there,” Shi Yuqi said with a warm smile on his face.
He put his arms around both of them: “You played a wonderful match, very good.
Oh, when I retire, it will be your era.”
How is this somewhat similar to what a certain clumsy person said to a certain player, “The future is yours?”
Lin Qumu nudged Li Shifeng: “Isn’t my Brother Li still here?”
“Me? Ha, no way, I’m still far from it,” Li Shifeng said, a little embarrassed.
Far from it?
Shuang Lin thought the same thing: “Far from it? Could you have won your first All England Open and Asian Games championships from Brother Shi Yuqi if you were ‘far from it’?
If Brother Shi Yuqi really retires, you’ll be the only one carrying the flag for the National Badminton Team’s men’s singles.”
“Brother Li, you can’t make our tender shoulders carry the flag for the National Badminton Team’s men’s singles, can you?” Lin Qumu joked.
“Haha, no,” Li Shifeng laughed heartily, patting both of their shoulders.
The four of them chatted and laughed as they returned to the dormitory.
The next day, all National Badminton Team members plunged into intense training.
They weren’t very interested in the Switzerland Open; only young players who needed to prove themselves needed to play in it to gain experience.
The intense morning training ended, and Lin Qumu and Lin Yusheng sat together.
They had anticipated that the training intensity of the first team and second team would be completely different, but they didn’t expect it to be this intense.
No wonder Lu Guangzu immediately told them to do a thorough warm-up first, otherwise, accumulated over time, the damage would be significant.
Just then, Lin Qumu suddenly heard a voice, calm and cold: “Detecting a host that meets the contract conditions, immediate contract, all host resistance is ineffective.”
Hmm?
Lin Qumu immediately put down his water cup, some of the spilled water landed on Lin Yusheng’s shoes, who looked bewildered: “What are you doing?”
“Did you hear a sound?”
“What sound? Oh, I told you that you were acting strange because your Navia was off, just rest, we’ll go practice net play later.”
Lin Yusheng said lightly.
Thinking of the pink-haired loli zombie who would shout “Jade slip, immortal art, open the box” and swallowed his guaranteed pull, Lin Qumu was furious: “Alright, alright, you’re provoking me, aren’t you?”
“Someone has had eight consecutive off-banner pulls on their small guarantee since creating their account, I’m not saying who.”
“I * @ , - * # , $ * $ * # * # ( $ * $ & _”
The two quickly started bickering.
Soon, Coach Zhang Jun brought two people, carrying their racket bags and also a camera.
“A Mu, Asheng, come here,” Coach Zhang Jun waved to them from afar.
The two stopped their teasing and walked towards Coach Zhang Jun.
However, just as Lin Qumu remembered that extremely calm and cold voice, the voice sounded again:
【Please, Host, do not look around】
What was that?
Lin Qumu stopped in his tracks, looking around.
Lin Yusheng noticed Lin Qumu hadn’t kept up and said, “Keep up, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, just missing Qiqi.”
“You really are submissive.”
“Get lost!”