Cai Yun says good-bye to international badminton

2012 Olympic men’s doubles gold medallist Cai Yun (pictured) has called time on his illustrious career in international badminton.  Yesterday, Cai announced on his Weibo blog, that he was leaving the international game.  He also posted an assessment letter from his national sports federation extolling his talents and his contributions to Chinese badminton, but for the 36-year-old Cai, any future contributions will have to come in some role other than as an international player.

Aside from his gold medal in London, Cai is best known for his four BWF World Championship titles, all also with long-time partner Fu Haifeng.  He also is the winner of 15 career Superseries titles and he helped China to numerous world team titles, as well as to two Asian Games men’s team gold medals.  His last international title was at last year’s Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, where he won with Lu Kai.

He’s also been running a “Badminton Talk with Cai Yun” (和蔡赟聊羽毛球) via WeChat, sharing badminton knowledge with his followers and an article this week in Sina mentioned that he may be making a move to a career in the media.

We at Badzine wish Cai Yun all the best in his future endeavours.

Photo: Badmintonphoto