Fu Haifeng’s withdrawal due to father’s passing

On Wednesday, the Chinese news website Sina Sports revealed that Olympic champion Fu Haifeng was forced to withdraw from this week’s China Open in Fuzhou to mourn the passing of his father.  The Sina report said that the revelation came in a mixed zone interview with Fu’s partner Zhang Nan, who had just won his opening mixed doubles match.  Fu and Zhang were to have been seeded 3rd in one of the few major tournaments that Fu Haifeng has never won.

Fu Haifeng credits his father Fu Mingying with being the great player’s first badminton coach.  All of us at Badzine send our condolences to Fu and his family.