Lu Guangzu retires from national team

On October 19, Chinese badminton player Lu Guangzu announced his withdrawal from the national team, coinciding with his birthday. He wrote on social media: “Now, I feel it’s time to leave… In the future, I will continue to compete on domestic courts, still wearing the Jiangsu team jersey.”

Lu Guangzu was born on October 19, 1996, in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. At the recently concluded 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, he and his teammates won the silver medal in the men’s team badminton event.

The original post is as follows:

"From stepping into the national team in 2015 until now, it has been 11 years. From a young and inexperienced boy to reaching thirty, this place has carried many hardships of struggle, the glory of standing on the podium, the quiet sadness after losses, the passion in training, and the frustration of dealing with injuries—these have filled my life. But now, I feel it is time to leave.

I am deeply grateful to the national team for years of cultivation, to every coach and staff member who has worked alongside me; grateful to my teammates, whose companionship in life, competition, and relentless pursuit of self-improvement I remember clearly; and I also thank everyone who has always supported and encouraged me and who, like me, loves this sport.

I am returning to Jiangsu, to where my dream began. In the future I will continue to represent the Jiangsu team on domestic courts, and I look forward to sharing and enjoying badminton face to face with everyone, hoping even more people fall in love with this sport. Here, I also wish the China national badminton team even greater success, and I hope my teammates still fighting on the front lines find the answers they are seeking."