The monkeys stayed away. The pigeons were repelled. But Li Shifeng, a 6-ft-1 hulk and last of the Chinese men’s singles left in the draw, perished bugged by a bug on court.
After losing 13-21, 23-21, 21-11 in 77 minutes to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, going down from 19-16 in second set and two points away from ensuring a medal, Shifeng was quoted as saying by NTT Japan, “There was a big on the court. I just couldn’t concentrate any more. There was this big ant. I thought I had moved it away with the racquet frame. But it ended up getting onto my racquet. Until 5-11 in the second, that was all I could think about. I thought I couldn’t do this anymore. I kept playing while thinking ‘If it comes again, I’m going to squish it ‘ Then it stopped coming.”
Shifeng was asked if bugs annoyed him that much. “I hate bugs. I can’t deal with them,” he was quoted as saying by badspi.jp (Badminton Spirit).
He offered it as a legit excuse, despite Japanese media stressing it might be about concentration. “If that hadn’t happened, I could have played much better. No seriously, I can’t deal with ants. I’m not joking. Once I stopped paying attention to the ant, I was fairly able to concentrate ,” he would say.
The rest of the Chinese had earlier lost with Shi Yuqi going down to Ayush Shetty. While Went Hong Yang was beaten by Yushi Tanaka, also in first round.
This is the worst performance by Chinese singles men in the history of World Championship history with none of the 3 making quarterfinals. Their previous worst was in 1995 when just one Chinese made Last 8.