Jingzhou National Historical and Cultural City Badminton Invitational Tournament 2023, which would last two days, was opened at the Jingzhou Sports Center on the morning of April 15.

Xia Xuanze, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Badminton Association, Shui Bing, Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Director of Hubei Administration of Sport, Zhou Zhihong, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jingzhou Municipal Committee and Mayor of Jingzhou, and Li Gan, Deputy Mayor of Jingzhou, attended the opening ceremony.

Xia Xuanze awarded the plaque of “National Demonstration City for Badminton Membership Promotion” to the People’s Government of Jingzhou. This was the first such plaque granted by the Chinese Badminton Association, which indicated that Jingzhou became the only demonstration city for badminton membership promotion across the country.

Deputy Mayor Li Gan spoke in his welcome speech: In recent years, Jingzhou has increasingly invested in improving venues and facilities, diversifying sports events, and fostering professional athletes. It has become a city well-known for badminton, and its badminton team has been traditionally a top-notch one in the country. In the future, Jingzhou will continue to improve itself as a national demonstration city for badminton based on the popularity of this sport among citizens, build a training base for the national badminton team, and foster more outstanding athletes for Hubei and the whole country.

There were 471 athletes, team leaders and coaches from 44 cities in 20 provincial administrative divisions, including Hong Kong SAR, in this competition. Each tie consisted of three matches, and one for each discipline: men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles. The total prize money was RMB150,000.