Olympian wins gold medal, then gets proposed to

PARIS, France — It was gold and diamonds for China badminton player Huang Ya Qiong at the Olympics on Friday.

Huang and partner Zheng Siwei beat South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8, 21-11 in mixed doubles to cap an unbeaten run in Paris. Wearing the gold medal hung around her neck, she said yes to a wedding proposal by Li Yuchen, another member of China's badminton team.

“For me, the proposal is very surprising because I have been preparing for the game,” Huang said through an interpreter. “Today I am an Olympic champion and I got proposed (to), so that’s something I didn’t expect.”

Huang and Zheng, silver medalists at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, went 3-0 in group play to earn the top seed in the quarterfinals. They finished the tournament 6-0 without losing a game in the process.

Zheng said he got engaged three years ago after losing in the final and considers this a better experience for her partner.

“I think it must be happier for her,” he said. “Last time it was purely for my proposal, but this time is basically double lucky things happening at the same time.”

Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino beat South Korea’s Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung 21-13, 22-20 in the bronze-medal match. They also took home Olympic bronze three years ago on home soil and expressed disappointment about not improving on that this time.

“The bronze medal is not the best," Yuta said. “I wanted the gold medal, but this is better than nothing.”

China has won mixed doubles badminton gold at back-to-back Olympics and five out of eight times since it became a medal event in Atlanta in 1996. Wang Yilyu retired after winning gold in Tokyo with Huang Dong Ping, who teamed with Feng Yan Zhe in Paris and lost to Zheng and Huang in the quarterfinals.

The country is guaranteed women's doubles badminton gold and silver. Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan will face Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning in an all-China final on Saturday.