Zheng Siwei
Zheng Siwei is a Chinese badminton player specializing in doubles. He is an Olympic gold medalist, a three-time World Champion and two-time Asian Games gold medalist in the mixed doubles with his current partner Huang Yaqiong. He helped the national team clinch the 2018 Thomas Cup and also 2019 and 2023 Sudirman Cups.
Zheng joined the national team in 2013, and excelled in the junior events, collecting four gold medals, a silver and a bronze at the World Junior Championships, also six golds and a silver at the Asian Junior Championships from 2013 to 2015. He also participated in the senior event, winning doubles titles in New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold|New Zealand] and Brasil Open Grand Prix|Brasil Open]. For his achievements in 2015, the BWF awarded him the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player of the Year.
Zheng achieved his breakthrough in 2016 by achieving the world number 1 ranking in mixed doubles partnering with Chen Qingchen in December 2016. He and Chen reached thirteen Superseries finals, won the year-end tournament Dubai World Superseries Finals in 2016 and 2017, and the silver medal at the BWF World Championships|2017 World Championships]. He forged a new mixed doubles pairing with Huang Yaqiong in November 2017, and started their partnership by winning the China Open Super Series Premier|China], Hong Kong Super Series|Hong Kong] and Macau Open Grand Prix Gold|Macau Open] in consecutive weeks. He again ascended to the mixed doubles world number 1 ranking on 9 August 2018, with the achievement of seven 2018 World Tour titles, and gold medals at the World Championships and Asian Games.
In November 2024, Zheng announced his retirement from international badminton. The World Tour Finals">BWF World Tour">World Tour Finals was his final tournament.
Career
2021
Zheng and his partner Huang Yaqiong competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Mixed doubles|2020 Summer Olympics] as the top seeds. They won a silver medal after being defeated by their compatriots Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the final in a close rubber game.2022
Zheng participated in the German Open (badminton)|German Open], but with a new partner, Zhang Shuxian, in which they were knocked out in the first round by Jones Ralfy Jansen and Linda Efler.He reunited with Huang Yaqiong at the All England Open. They reached the semifinals, where they were defeated by their compatriots Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping once again, in three games.
In April, Zheng and Huang participated in the Asian Championships for the third time. They were crowned as the champions, avenging their defeat in the Tokyo Olympics against Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the final without dropping a game in the whole tournament.
From May to July, Zheng and Huang won 5 consecutive World Tour titles at the Thailand Open (badminton)|Thailand Open], Indonesia Masters, Indonesia Open, Malaysia Open (badminton)|Malaysia Open] and Malaysia Masters back to back. The pair topped the world rankings again after winning the Indonesia Open.
In August, competing as the top seed in the World Championships, Zheng and Huang got their third gold medal of this event in their career by beating Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino, who were fighting in home soil, in two straight games.
Despite losing to Watanabe and Higashino a week later in the semifinals of Japan Open, Zheng and Huang proceeded to triumph in two Super 750 events, Denmark Open and French Open (badminton)|French Open] in two three-game thrillers, against compatriots Feng/Huang and the Dutch pair Tabeling/Piek respectively. As a result they finished 1st in the Race to World Tour Finals ranking.
They finished the year with their 10th gold of the year in the World Tour Finals by beating No.2 seed Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Sapsiree Taerattanachai 21–19, 18–21, 21–13.
2023
Zheng and Huang competed as top seeds and three-time defending champions in the Malaysia Open at the start of the year. They defended their title without dropping a set throughout the tournament. However, a week later they lost in the semi-finals in the India Open (badminton)|India Open] to Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino. In March, the pair of Zheng and Huang participated in the All England Open and were crowned champions for the second time in their career as a pair by beating the Korean pair Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung. At the end of April, Zheng and Huang participated in the Asian Championships as defending champions, and finished with a silver medal after losing to their younger compatriots Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. In May, the pair then helped the Chinese team to lift the Sudirman Cup trophy by winning all 4 matches they played. In June, after losing to Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun in the quarterfinals in Singapore Open (badminton)|Singapore], The pair won their third Super 1000 title of the season in the Indonesia Open, defeating Watanabe and Higashino in straight games in the final.In August, Zheng and Huang entered the World Championships – Mixed doubles|World Championships] as the top seeds and defending champions. Zheng reached his fifth final without dropping a single game, but the duo lost to Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung, a pair they never lost to in 9 meetings, in three close games. In October, Zheng and Huang, who were Asian Games – Mixed doubles|2018 champions], successfully defended their title they won 5 years ago at the 2022 Asian Games – Mixed doubles|2022 Asian Games], avenging their defeat to Seo and Chae in the semi-finals and defeating Watanabe and Higashino in the final in straight games. In December, Zheng achieved the honour of being the first shuttler ever to secure five mixed doubles titles at the World Tour Finals when he with his partner Huang Yaqiong defeated Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. In the semi-finals, it was a masterclass display as they steamrolled reigning world champions Seo and Chae.
2024–2025
Zheng and Huang competed as the top seeds and four-time defending champions at the Malaysia Open. However, they lost in the quarter-finals to Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun, in three games. After the match, Zheng said that they were ill. As a result, they withdrew from the India Open the following week.However, they returned to competition at the Indonesia Masters, which was held a week after the India Open, and they won the title.
In May, they competed at the Singapore Open (badminton)|Singapore Open], and won the title, which was their first title as a pair at the tournament. A week later, they competed at the Indonesia Open as the two-time defending champions. However, they were outclassed in the final in two straight games by compatriats Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin.
After being out of international competition for more than a month, in July, Zheng and Huang returned at the Olympics for the second time. This time, they came back much stronger, by winning the gold medal for the first time, winning all of their matches in two straight games. In the final, they produced a masterclass performance against Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun, with a final score of 21–8, 21–11.
In November, Zheng announced his retirement from international badminton, citing needing a balance between career and family. This was a result of his family welcoming his second child, a daughter. The following month, Zheng and Huang won the World Tour Finals after defeating Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei in a grueling three sets match of 21–18, 14–21, 21–17. He officially retired from the national team and international competitions shortly thereafter, and his farewell party was held after the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.
Achievements
Olympic Games
Mixed doubles| Year | Venue | Partner | Opponent | Score | Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 Summer Olympics – Mixed doubles|2020] | Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, Tokyo, Japan |  World ChampionshipsMixed doubles
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