Fu Haifeng (born 23 August 1983) is a Chinesebadminton player. He is considered one of the all-time greats of badminton.[2] Combining Fu Haifeng's impressive power with his regular partnerCai Yun's impressive speed, he has won numerous top tier events on the world circuit including theAll England Open in 2005 and 2009 and theBWF World Championships in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Cai and Fu have helpedChina win five consecutiveThomas Cup (World men's team championships) (2004,2006,2008,2010, and2012) and four consecutiveSudirman Cup (World mixed team championships) (2005,2007,2009 and2011). Cai and Fu also competed together in the Olympic games 3 times, including the2004, the2008 and the2012 Olympic Games.
At the2010 BWF World Championships in Paris, Fu with his partner Cai Yun being the fifth seed—beat the third seed Danish pairMathias Boe andCarsten Mogensen 21–11, 21–18 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, 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 theChina 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.
At the2012 Summer Olympics, they defeated Denmark's Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen in the final to win the gold medal.
Having had 1 Olympic gold medal and 4 World Championship titles, as well as many other titles, Cai and Fu are one of the most successful men's doubles pair in badminton history.
An ancillary badminton achievement of Fu is that while competing in the2005 Sudirman Cup, one of his smashes was clocked at 332 km/h (206 mph), the fastest propulsion of a shuttle on record.[3] Fu also fired a 303 km/h smash during game 3 of the2010 BWF World Championships men's doubles final, which was confirmed by the commentatorGillian Clark as the fastest of the tournament. The fastest smash by Fu during the2011 Sudirman Cup final was clocked at 291 km/h.
In 2014, Fu played with mixed doubles champion Zhang Nan in the All England Super Series. They lost to the Indonesian pair Muhammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in the quarter finals 21-23 20–22. Later on it, they took revenge at Denmark Open Super Series, and became the champion after beating top seed Korean pair Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong in 2 straight sets in the final.
In 2015, his partnership with Zhang Nan was stable after reaching several Super Series Finals such as Singapore Open, Indonesia Open, Japan Open, All England as runners-up.
In 2016, they won the Singapore Open Super Series after beating the top seed from Korea Lee/Yoo in 2 straight sets at semi final. Their performance later in several Super Series was not so climatic. They were seeded 4th in the Olympic Games in Rio, as Fu claimed his second gold medal in men's doubles category after beating Malaysian's pair Tan/Goh in 3 sets. He ends his career having reached 3 consecutive finals in the Olympic Games with two different partners, winning gold twice.
The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007,[4] 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.[5] 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.