Cai Yun (born 19 January 1980) is a former professionalbadminton player representing China. He is the 2012 London Olympic gold medallist and a four-time World Champion in men's doubles. He is regarded as one of the greatest men's doubles players of all time.
Combining Cai Yun's impressive speed with his regular partnerFu Haifeng's impressive power, Cai and Fu have been one of the world's leading men's doubles teams since 2004. They have won numerous top tier events on the world circuit including the venerableAll England Open Championships in 2005 and 2009. They have won theBWF World Championships 4 times in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011, becoming the first Men's Doubles pair to achieve this feat. Cai and Fu have helpedChina win five consecutiveThomas Cup (Men's Team World Badminton Championships) (2004,2006,2008,2010, and2012) and six consecutiveSudirman Cup (World Team Championships) (2005,2007,2009,2011,2013 and2015). Cai and Fu also competed together in the Olympic games 3 times, including the2004, the2008 Olympic Games and the2012 Olympic Games. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals in2004, and in2008 inBeijing were silver medalists, losing a close final toIndonesia'sMarkis Kido andHendra Setiawan.
At the2010 BWF World Championships, they, being the fifth-seed, beat the third-seed Danish pairMathias Boe andCarsten Mogensen 21–11, 21–18 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they defeated the second-seed Indonesian Olympic ChampionsMarkis Kido andHendra Setiawan 21–16, 21–13. In the finals, they overcame the first-seed and Malaysian world no. 1Koo Kien Keat andTan Boon Heong 18–21, 21–18, 21–14 to win the world title for the 3rd time. They are the first Men's Doubles pair to achieve this feat.
Cai and Fu went on to win theLi-Ning China Masters Super Series. Being the fifth-seed, they first defeated their second-seed compatriotsXu Chen andGuo Zhendong 21–11, 21–16 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they made a great comeback against the third-seed South Korean rivalLee Yong-dae andJung Jae-sung 20–22, 21–13, 21–17. Cai and Fu then clinched their second China Masters title by defeating the fourth-seed South Korean pairYoo Yeon-seong andKo Sung-hyun in 2 sets 21–14, 21–19. Cai and Fu won their third title in a row by winning the Yonex Japan Open Super Series. They, being the fifth-seed, beat the young Korean PairCho Gun-woo andKwon Yi-goo 21–14, 16–21, 21–12 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, they defeated their promising compatriotsZhang Nan andChai Biao 21–17, 21–16. In the finals, they made a great comeback again against the first-seed and Malaysian world no. 1Koo Kien Keat andTan Boon Heong 18–21, 21–14, 21–12 to win their first Japan Open title.
In the2012 Summer Olympics, they defeated Denmark's Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in the final to win the gold medal.
Having won 1 Olympic gold medal and 4 World Championship titles, as well as many other titles, Cai and Fu is one of the most successful men's doubles pairs in badminton history. They have expressed the will to continue their career together as long as they can after the London Olympics.
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,[3] was a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by theBadminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels wereSuperseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consisted of twelve tournaments around the world that had been introduced since 2011.[4] Successful players were invited to the Superseries Finals, which were held at the end of each year.
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, theGrand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by theBadminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.
Cai Yun married synchronised swimmerWang Na in 2010. Wang Na gave birth to a daughter in 2012,[5] and to a second child in probably late 2014.[6][7] (Cai Yun's doubles partner-turned-coachZhang Jun married Wang Na's teammateHu Ni in 2006.)
^Zhang Yuxiang (张宇翔) (2012-04-16).王娜成都诞女 蔡赟当爹了 [Wang Na Gives Birth to a Daughter in Chengdu; Cai Yun Becomes a Father].Chengdu Evening News (in Chinese). Archived fromthe original on 2018-10-16. Retrieved2018-10-15.
^Cai Yun (2016-03-15)."Blog post".WeChat (in Chinese). mentioned he had two babies.
^Shunchan Nadianshi (2014-05-09)."Weibo post" (in Chinese). mentioned Wang Na was again pregnant.