Chen Yufei (in red) suffers from an ankle sprain during the final of the Uber Cup women's badminton team event in Bangkok, Thailand on May 13. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

Olympics badminton champion Chen Yufei, a Hangzhou native, defeated South Korea's top player An Se-young following a thrilling Uber Cup final in Nonthaburi, Thailand on May 14.

Despite spraining her ankle during the match, Chen emerged victorious after three sets (17-21, 21-15, 22-20) which took 91 minutes.

Her victory was the most-discussed sports topic on Chinese social media on Saturday night, and the hashtag "Chen Yufei " was viewed over 140 million times in just an hour.

Chen celebrates after wining the third set. [Photo/hangzhou.com.cn]

"There was big pressure on me as it's a team competition. It wasn't easy as I'm usually competing in individual competitions. My rival played great today - really solid and patient," said the 24-year-old Chen.

Team China, though, failed to build on Chen's victory as it lost both the doubles matches.

Many fans paid tribute to the team's perseverance and spirit, but some also commented that the result suggests that China's dominance of the sport appears to be on the wane against rapidly improving rivals.