"Delivered China's worst performance in 52 years!" Korean Yoo Tae-bin's insane two-game winning streak, from world No. 11 to No. 4 Swiss, 2-0... Chinese shock: "Men's singles wiped out" [Aichi Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

Korean badminton men's singles player Yoo Tae-bin has caused another major upset. This time, he toppled the world No. 4 and China's top star, Swiss.

On the 26th, at the Ichinomiya City General Gymnasium in Japan, Yoo defeated Swiss 2-0 (21-17, 25-23) in the men's singles round of 16 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games to advance to the quarterfinals.

Swiss is a top-tier player who has reached world No. 1. Objectively, the match was expected to favor Swiss.

However, Yoo completely overturned expectations.

From the first game, Yoo aggressively pushed Swiss. After an early close contest, he gradually built a lead and took the first game 21-17 to seize the initiative.

The second game was even more dramatic.

Yoo once trailed 11-17, suggesting the match would go to three games. But he did not give up. He steadily closed the gap to tie at 19-19 and then pushed the match into deuce.

In the final concentration, Yoo came out ahead. After a tense battle, he secured the second game 25-23, turning Swiss around without dropping a single set against the world No. 4.

China's local media was shocked. Chinese outlet Zhuba reported Swiss's defeat and even described it as "the worst performance in history."

Earlier, defending champion Li Sifeng suffered a comeback loss to Korea's Choi Ji-hoon in the round of 32, losing 1-2 (21-18, 19-21, 18-21).

With even trusted Swiss falling to Yoo, all Chinese men's singles players at this tournament failed to reach the quarterfinals.

The media stated, "All Chinese men's singles players were eliminated," and explained, "This is the first time since China first participated in badminton at the Asian Games in 1974 that no one has reached the quarterfinals in men's singles. It is the worst performance in history."

For China, this result was bound to be shocking.

Until the previous 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Chinese players had monopolized the finals. Li Sifeng and Swiss both reached the final for a domestic showdown, with Li defeating Swiss 2-0 to claim the gold medal at that time.

However, in this tournament, both the previous gold and silver medalists were eliminated early without even reaching the quarterfinals.

The player who delivered the decisive blow was Yoo Tae-bin.

In fact, this is not the first time Yoo has caused an upset against Swiss.

Yoo had already secured a 2-0 (21-10, 21-12) victory over Taiwan's Lin Chun-yi, ranked world No. 11, in the earlier round of 32.

It was not just a simple win. He took the first game decisively 21-10 and then dominated the second 21-12. He did not drop a single set against a top-world player.

And a few hours later, he also defeated Swiss, who had an even higher world ranking.

Yoo beat two consecutive top-world players 2-0 in back-to-back matches, emerging as the main protagonist of the biggest upset in men's singles at this tournament. At the same time, by eliminating Swiss, he delivered a "dark history" to Chinese men's singles for the first time since 1974.

Now, attention turns to the quarterfinals. On the 27th, Yoo will face Japan's Naraoka Kodai in the semifinals.

The opponent is no pushover. Naraoka is a top-tier player representing Japan. Moreover, as he faces a host country player, Yoo must overcome not only skill but also one-sided support from the home crowd.

However, having created two major upsets in quick succession, Yoo is determined to maintain his momentum.

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*This content was translated by AI.