Liu Yu Chen, former world champion and Olympic silver medallist, and his current partner Ou Xuan Yi have announced their retirement from international badminton.
Their last tournament was the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where they could not progress past the group stage.
While Liu/Ou were ranked as high as No.2 in the world and achieved significant milestones in their relatively short stint as a pair, Liu had higher success with his former partner Li Jun Hui, with whom he was ranked No.1. Known as the ‘Twin Towers’, the Li/Liu duo won the World Championships in 2018 and the Olympic Games silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
Following Li Jun Hui’s retirement after the last Olympics, Liu teamed up with Ou Xuan Yi and the new partnership quickly rose to the top 10. Apart from individual titles like the Indonesia Open 2022 and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2022, their biggest moment came at the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2023. China were on the brink of elimination with the pair four match points down against Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobayashi in the semifinals against Japan, but memorably saved the tie, and China went on to win the Sudirman Cup at home.
Liu Yuchen and Li Jun Hui
Liu’s breakthrough as a junior came at the World Junior Championships 2013, when he and Li Jun Hui won gold. The pair went on to have a successful senior career, winning major titles such as the Asian Championships in 2017 and 2018, the Indonesia Open 2017 and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2018.
Liu was also a vital part of China’s Thomas Cup, Sudirman Cup and Asian Games-winning teams.
At Paris 2024, he made headlines by proposing courtside to long-time girlfriend Huang Ya Qiong after the mixed doubles final which Huang won with partner Zheng Si Wei.
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