Han Aiping

Han Aiping (; April 22, 1962 – October 16, 2019) was a Chinese badminton player in the 1980s who ranks among the greats of the woman's game. Noted for her superb overhead strokes, she and her teammate, rival, and sometimes doubles partner Li Lingwei dominated international singles play for most of the decade, each winning the IBF World Championships twice, and led Chinese teams to victory in Uber Cup (women's world team) competitions.

Career

Early career

Han Aiping began her badminton training at the age of 10 in the Wuhan Amateur Sports School. As a highly talented 12-year-old she joined the Hubei provincial team in 1974. In 1977 she finished second at the Chinese national championships and joined the National Chinese team at the age of 16 the following year. In the late 1970s, before China was admitted to the International Badminton Federation (now the Badminton World Federation), it promoted a rival organization, the World Badminton Federation which held its own version of a world championship in both 1978 and 1979. At just 17 Han won women's singles at the second of these. However, her meteoric rise was interrupted by health problems, and after being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 1980, on medical orders she was forced out of competition for two years. Resuming her badminton training late in 1982, she finished second at the next Chinese National Badminton Championships to another rising young star Li Lingwei. With China having been admitted to the IBF in 1981 Han and her teammates could now compete in all the major world events. In 1983 she won singles at the Japan Open and singles and women's doubles at the Badminton World Cup. At the 1983 World Championships Han defeated her top seeded compatriot Zhang Ailing in the semifinals but was defeated by an increasingly familiar opponent, Li Lingwei, in the finals.

Later career and rivalry with Li Lingwei

Han Aiping and her compatriot Li Lingwei repeatedly faced each other in the singles finals of major international tournaments from 1983 through 1988. Li maintained a won/lost edge in this rivalry, and in three successive winning Uber Cup competitions (1984, 1986, and 1988) played first singles for China ahead of Han at second singles. However, when they faced each other in badminton's most prestigious events, Han was arguably very much Li's equal. For example, Han lost the final of the 1983 World Championship to Li, but defeated Li in their next World Championship showdown in 1987, after having won the previous 1985 World Championship when Li had suffered a rare semifinal defeat. They exchanged victories in two consecutive finals at the venerable All England Championships, badminton's oldest event, with Li winning in 1984, and Han winning in 1985, and also at the China Open which Han won in 1986 and Li won in 1987. Han also won their only meeting at the quadrennial Asian Games in 1986. Throughout their rivalry they remained good friends and were often successful women's doubles partners at a time when, increasingly, elite singles players no longer entered doubles and elite doubles players no longer entered singles. In 1985 they captured women's doubles titles at both the All Englands and World Championships. They won three women's doubles titles together at the now defunct Badminton World Cup in 1983, 1986, and 1987. At the 1987 World Championships where Han won her second consecutive world singles title, she and Li had to settle for silver in women's doubles, losing to their compatriots Lin Ying and Guan Weizhen in the finals.

By 1988 new young stars were emerging from China as well as from South Korea and Indonesia to challenge the Li/Han hegemony. In the exhibition tournament held at the 1988 Seoul Olympics which Li Lingwei did not contest, Han was upset in a close final by South Korea's Hwang Hye-Young. Though she won a number of events in her last two seasons of international play, occasionally Han was beaten by someone other than Li. In particular, China was relying on two young women, Tang Jiuhong and Huang Hua to take over for proven great players who were perhaps wearying of the training and tournament grind. In mid 1989 Han decided to end her playing career.

Personal life

After leaving the National Chinese badminton team Han and her husband Guo Ming went to Australia to study in March 1990. In April she was invited to give lectures in Japan's Olympic Intensification Program and then taught at the Suntory Badminton Club in Japan. In June 1994 she was reunited with her husband in Australia and cooperated with the local badminton club to train the team members to participate in the competition on behalf of the club. At the end of November 2002 she returned to China to serve as the head coach and head of the teaching and research team of the Hubei Badminton Women's Team. Dongfanghong Primary School, Qiaokou District, Wuhan City, established a badminton school named after her and officially unveiled this in September 2005. In 2013, she was elected at the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Han Aiping and her husband Guo Ming had two daughters. They traveled to Japan and Australia with the children before returning to Wuhan, Hubei, to settle in 2002. Later, in order to better re-engage their daughters in the English language they sent them to Singapore. The elder daughter, Guo Yushan, conducted badminton training at a local club, while the second daughter, Han Yalu, went into tennis training.

Death

Han was inducted into the Badminton Hall of Fame in 1998. She died on 16 October 2019 due to lung cancer at the age of 57.

Achievements

Olympic Games (exhibition)

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1988	Seoul National University Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea	Template:Flagicon Hwang Hye-young	11–1, 8–11, 6–11	File:Silver medal.svg Silver

World Championships

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1987	Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	10–12, 11–4, 11–7	Gold Gold
1985	Olympic Saddledome, Calgary, Canada	Template:Flagicon Wu Jianqiu	6–11, 12–11, 11–2	Gold Gold
1983	Brøndbyhallen, Copenhagen, Denmark	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	8–11, 11–6, 7–11	Silver Silver
1979	Hangzhou, China	Template:Flagicon Fu Chun-e	9–11, 11–0, 11–4	Gold Gold

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1987	Capital Indoor Stadium, Beijing, China	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Guan Weizhen Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	7–15, 8–15	Silver Silver
1985	Olympic Saddledome, Calgary, Canada	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Lin Ying Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi	15–9, 14–18, 15–9	Gold Gold
1979	Hangzhou, China	Template:Flagicon He Cuiling	Template:Flagicon Sirisriro Patama Template:Flagicon Suleeporn Jittariyakul	12–15, 12–15	Gold Bronze

World Cup

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1989	Guangzhou Gymnasium, Guangzhou, China	Template:Flagicon Susi Susanti	5–11, 4–11	Silver Silver
1988	National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	5–11, 11–6, 11–0	Gold Gold
1987	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	8–11, 8–11	Silver Silver
1986	Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	8–11, 3–11	Silver Silver
1984	Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	12–10, 4–11, 7–11	Silver Silver
1983	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Template:Flagicon Zhang Ailing	6–11, 11–5, 11–4	Gold Gold

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1987	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Guan Weizhen Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	15–10, 11–15, 15–5	Gold Gold
1986	Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Imelda Wiguna Template:Flagicon Rosiana Tendean	15–7, 15–7	Gold Gold
1985	Istora Senayan, Jakarta, Indonesia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Kim Yun-ja Template:Flagicon Yoo Sang-hee	11–15, 15–11, 3–15	Bronze Bronze
1983	Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Wu Jianqiu Template:Flagicon Xu Rong	6–15, 15–8, 15–5	Gold Gold

Asian Games

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
1986	Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul, South Korea	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–6, 11–9	Gold Gold

IBF Grand Prix (21 titles, 18 runners-up)

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1983	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Kirsten Larsen	11–2, 11–4	Winner
1983	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	0–11, 11–4, 4–11	Runner-up
1984	All England Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	5–11, 8–11	Runner-up
1984	Scandinavian Cup	Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi	9–11, 11–2, 11–2	Winner
1984	Dutch Masters	Template:Flagicon Kirsten Larsen	11–7, 11–0	Winner
1984	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Ivana Lie	11–3, 11–2	Winner
1985	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Zheng Yuli	11–6, 11–2	Winner
1985	Indonesia Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	9–11, 8–11	Runner-up
1985	All England Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–7, 12–10	Winner
1985	Swedish Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–8, 8–11, 12–10	Winner
1985	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	3–11, 3–11	Runner-up
1986	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	12–10, 8–11, 10–12	Runner-up
1986	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–4, 9–12, 9–12	Runner-up
1986	China Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–3, 11–6	Winner
1986	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	5–11, 3–11	Runner-up
1987	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Kirsten Larsen	11–4, 11–8	Winner
1987	Malaysian Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	3–11, 11–2, 9–12	Runner-up
1987	Thailand Open	Template:Flagicon Luo Yun	11–3, 8–11, 1–11	Runner-up
1987	China Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–6, 5–11, 10–12	Runner-up
1987	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	8–11, 5–11	Runner-up
1988	English Masters	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–4, 5–11, 9–12	Runner-up
1988	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	7–11, 7–11	Runner-up
1988	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Gu Jiaming	11–4, 11–5	Winner
1988	Malaysian Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–7, 11–3	Winner
1988	Swedish Open	Template:Flagicon Gu Jiaming	11–3, 11–1	Winner
1988	German Open	Template:Flagicon Kirsten Larsen	11–8, 11–9	Winner
1988	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Lee Young-suk	11–8, 1–11, 8–11	Runner-up
1988	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Lee Young-suk	11–1, 11–5	Winner
1989	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Tang Jiuhong	0–11, 1–11	Runner-up
1989	Malaysian Open	Template:Flagicon Luo Yun	6–11, 11–6, 11–7	Winner
1989	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Zhou Lei	11–12, 11–7, 11–3	Winner
1989	Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Tang Jiuhong	11–12, 10–12	Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1985	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Xu Rong	Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	15–4, 15–7	Winner
1985	Indonesian Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Ivana Lie Template:Flagicon Rosiana Tendean	15–7, 15–8	Winner
1985	All England Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	15–7, 15–12	Winner
1985	Swedish Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Wu Jianqiu Template:Flagicon Guan Weizhen	15–12, 15–6	Winner
1986	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Guan Weizhen Template:Flagicon Lao Yujing	18–15, 15–9	Winner
1986	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	4–15, 8–15	Runner-up
1988	Hong Kong Open	Template:Flagicon Shang Fumei	Template:Flagicon Guan Weizhen Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	10–15, 4–15	Runner-up

Invitational tournament (3 titles, 1 runners-up)

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1985	Malaysian Masters	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	11–6, 12–10	Winner
1989	Konica Cup	Template:Flagicon Lee Young-suk	11–0, 11–5	Winner

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
1978	WBF World Invitational Championships	Template:Flagicon Xu Jung	Template:Flagicon Li Fang Template:Flagicon Liang Qiuxia	5–15, 7–15	Silver Silver
1985	Malaysian Masters	Template:Flagicon Li Lingwei	Template:Flagicon Wu Dixi Template:Flagicon Lin Ying	5–15, 15–12, 15–12	Winner

External links

• Template:BWFB
• Template:BWFT
• Template:Olympedia