Han Aiping

Han Aiping won 1979 WBF World Championships’ women’s singles at just 17 years old. During her carer, she won three IBF World Championship titles (1985, 1987: singles; 1985: doubles), making her one of only three players to have won world titles both in singles and doubles. She also won three consecutive Uber Cups (1984, 1986, 1988) with the Chinese team. However, badminton was not added to the Olympic programme until 1992, when she had already retired. She competed and won at Seoul 1988 where badminton was a demonstration sport, though. She was inducted into the IBF Hall of Fame in 1998, together with her doubles partner, Li Lingwei.

After retirement, Han moved to Australia, where she taught badminton. In 2002, she came back to China to be the head coach of the Hubei provincial team. Among the players she coached in Hubei, Zhao Yunlei and Wang Xiaoli would be the most successful two. In 2019, Han died of lung cancer in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province and her hometown.