Beijing: Former Chinese badminton great Han Aiping has died from lung cancer aged 57 on Wednesday night, Beijing time.
Han Aiping was born in 1962. She joined the Chinese national team at the age of 16 and won the badminton women’s singles world championship at the age of 17. However, as she was on her way to the peak of her career, she was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) and had to take a break from badminton for two years.
After she recovered from the illness on September 1982, she produced a strong comeback by becoming the runner-up at the China national women’s singles competition. In 1983, she won the Japan Open title, the runner-up at the World Championship tournament and won both the women’s singles and women’s doubles titles at the Badminton World Cup.
By 1989, she had won 8 singles titles and 5 doubles titles at the World Championships, and was one of the main player for China’s dominance in the Uber Cup competition.
Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016 and lost her battle with cancer in 2019.
