Right now, if CHN WS is still led by the young 20-year-old Chen Yufei, then, sadly, she's still not out of the woods yet ,not that CYF is no good but that she's not good enough for a CHN WS player. A worrisome , maybe even alarming situation that lasted almost two years since Rio'16, if not earlier. For the time being,I can only hope Li Xuerui quickly assumes the mantle of helming CHN WS, the sooner the better. For that, LXR has to fully regain her match fitness and mobility to optimal level to return to her former prowess. However, it's only been about three months since her comeback from her long injury layoff, it might be somewhat too much to ask of her to achieve that in less than a year's time. Just that LXR's performance so far, aside from the Uber Cup fiasco has been very encouraging,if not nothing short of spectacular, three titles in a row albeit at WTS100 and WTS300 levels but besting the likes of Zhang Beiwen, Michelle Li, twice, Sayaka Takahashi, Sayaka Sato, all ranked inside the Top 20, and, most importantly, she did it despite the odds against her, literally playing 13 matches in two weeks for her back-to-back titles in her North American expedition. All the more remarkable.
She simply crumbled under the weight of the burden of expectation in that all-important tiebreaker against Busanan, crippled by jangled nerves,an old problem of hers in the individual majors but on that occasion it struck her for the first time despite having a clean unbeaten record in all her previous team championships. According to Cai Yun and Xie Zhihua, fielding Li Xuerui for the tiebreaking WS3 role in such a team major was a bad decision as she was as yet both physically and mentally unfit as well as the tremendous stress she was subject to, not least the fear of recurrence of injury. Glad to say, she went to the Americas single-minded in her determination to redeem herself and succeeded in style while defying the odds. What a huge transformation in just two to three weeks. Frankly, I gave up on her after seeing her Uber Cup debacle but now I'm pleased and excited by her once again as she forced me to see her in a new light. Just that I never imagined that CHN WS has no one to turn to except to place hopes on a 27-year-old come-back-from-long-injury-layoff ex-Olympic champion to rejuvenate themselves to their former position and glory. On hindsight, when Zhang Ning and Xia Xuanze made the decision to select Li Xuerui for the WS3 role in the Uber Cup in May despite the fact that she had played and won only one international tournament, the Lingsui China Masters WTS100 event in April, I believed they must have witnessed how she fared during training and sparring with her teammates at practice sessions and, probably, came away impressed by her display and also took into account of her sterling records, undefeated, in all her previous Uber and Sudirman Cups appearances. While they knew it was a calculated risk-taking decision, little did they bargained for her to cracked under the strain on that fateful day in the CHN vs THA semifinal clash. For the sake of counterfactual argument, had LXR played the way she did in the US and CAN Opens, I'm sure she'd hold her nerves better and prevail over Busanan in the tiebreaker. But that's water under the bridge now. Moving forward, let's hope Li Xuerui makes a great comeback, stronger than ever. Way to go ! Jiayou !
I am afraid the China WS players have no power, speed and deception. They break under attack and speedy returns. Frankly they have no clue how to turn around a bad situation. I would look to cultivating new junior players and inculcate these missing strengths into them early.I think working on HBJ and Zhou Meng may help as both are talented players with some power. CYY is another good potential. They should be given special training. CYF is too soft and lacks the killer instinct but whenever she does attack its the wrong or erroneous shot. She relies on the opponent making mistakes more than making winning shots. Depending on LD,CL and LX shows how bad Chinas badminton has been. There were champions of 6 years ago!!
I am afraid LX can only be a backup player. Mainly because she has won the all that a young player wants. Her mental strength will be under strain if she meets a young player who is hungry and can match her stroke for stroke. She will then crumble as she doesn't need to prove anything. Look at the way she plays in these tournaments. Yes its still good but if its a TTY,SN,CM,AY or RI I feel she will have problems keeping up the hunger to win.
Among the current crop of CHN Ws, Li Xuerui aside, my picks are 19-yr-old Gao Fangjie, 18-yr-old Cai Yanyan, and18-yr-old Wang Zhiyi to step up to the plate eventually, the sooner the better. And, to be honest, I'm still hoping for 21 years old He Bingjiao, whom I considered the most talented of the lot, to finally get her act together and start playing to her true potential. But first she must build up her physique, improve her fitness and stamina so much it never troubles her anymore so that she can let her natural game flow abundantly, with creativity and deception. I watched the replay of He Bingjiao vs Saena Kawakami, boy, HBJ was fast and furious and working very hard to return every shot. Frankly, I've not seen her so positive and proactive for quite some time, even cutting down on her propensity for unforced errors within reasonable limit. Really hoped she can keep it up , be more consistent and continue to grow and develop all-round to her maximum capacity. I recall Wang Yihan was very impressed with her and spoke highly of her talents, singling her out for special praise among the junior cohort, even hinting HBJ was one of the reasons why she thought it's time for her to retire. May HBJ live up to WYH's expectations and prediction. I mean, no matter how good Li Xuerui is , she alone is not enough to lift up CHN WS and restore China's dominance - it always takes 2 or 3 exceptional talents to do so.
Finally China has a WS player that can take on the best in the world. HBJ always had the talent but she was not given special attention. Now I see XX has taken her under his wings? She is fitter, confident and makes less mistakes. With better stamina and patience she will be v good. I hope she can cut down her mistakes tomorrow. She can do it. Just remember TTY's favourite shots and return them with interest. Looking forward to the Match. Congratulations HBJ you have always been my choice as the best China WS.
I think the CBA should take Zhou Meng and CYY for special attention as they have the talent to go far.
It seems to me that SY was not interested to win this match against Tommy Sugiarto. If he wins he plays LCW. He wasnt making much effort.
Both Cai Yanyan, 18, and Zhou Meng, 17, are still in the junior circuit and considered CHN WS 2nd team members for the time being, so they come under Wang Xin's care. I'm also hoping and waiting for 18-yr-old Wang Zhiyi to shine on the world stage one day.
Shi Yuqi today against R. Ouseph compared to the match between K. Momota and LCW, last week, shows how far the gap SY has to make up to be able to beat those two. Granted RO is one of those players that is a hurdle for certain players and SY doesn't like RO's height ,speed,reach and power. But compare the strategy put in by LCW and KM to win points during the match. It was one master against another. SY's weakest point is his smashing power. He didn't win many points and his smashes were quite easily picked up by RO. The whole pace of SY's game is slow, without changes of speed. I personally feel he will have great difficulty beating either of the two finalists in the Malaysian Open. I find Lu Guangzu's game so much more interesting to watch as I see hope ,at least in his game. Granted he might lose to SY but there is light ahead of the tunnel, imho.
China WS on the rise? I am amazed at CY overcoming AY. CY still made a lot of errors but what happened to AY? This is the first time that CY has beaten AY. She also won her match against SN. Thats not easy. Saina is a very good and strong hitting player but she doesn't like opponents who have good defence and good strokes, when she has to work hard to win her points. She then makes a lot of errors. CY has demonstrated that she can attack and her footwork seems better. I think if she continues with the same speed and good stroke play she will win against SJH. And what about HBJ? My favourite Chinese WS player. She overcomes PS quite easily. Gill Clarke says that Sindhu is off form and that the conditions affected her game. Come off it Gill, PS has always found HBJ a difficult player. Its one of those things, like a nemesis. HBJ played well Gill. She is a very talented player. As Steen said its skill against a straightforward player and skill won. I think XX has taken it upon himself to take these two players under his care and it seems to be working. Well done .
Nonetheless, I'm exceedingly glad that at last there is a silver lining to CHN WS as shown these two weeks at the MAS Open WTS750 and the INA Open WTS1000 events. That Xia Xuanze personally taking charge of the two , He Bingjiao and Chen Yufei, has yielded remarkable results with HBJ in the final of one while CYF in the other, both overcoming some of the very best opponents to boot. Clearly, XXZ has a very positive influence and impact on the two (super)stars in the making. Chen Yufei showed commendable fighting spirit and displayed signs of maturity while the naturally gifted He Bingjiao stirred my imagination of what she's truly capable of and we all know what's holding her back for the time being. Way to go !
Lu Guangzu is a raw gem that still needs quite a bit of polishing, send him to more higher level tournaments now that he can play WTS500 events as a qualifier. I feel he must learn to adjust his game as necessary to play different styles of opponents, esp against very good retrievers, he has to construct his rallies a bit more and bide his time to attack at just the right moment, which I can see him doing so but not often enough as once in a while he will still go for the jugular too soon and tend to make mistakes going for the lines or find himself in trouble when the shots come back with interest. Next week, he's heading to another WTS500 event, the SIN Open. Better luck then.
Although LG lost to KN in the Thailand Open, he played well to stretch the match to three games. It could have gone either way. Its their first meeting and its obvious that KN was tired as he wasted a lot of time. Interesting to see the next meeting. He is definitely after SY the best China MS player. And well done HY overcoming two Malaysian players who used to give him problems.Hope he has improved and will move onto the next round. Well done HY.
H.Yuxiang's lack of skills clearly exposed by 34 year old Sony Dwi Kuncoro. He was not in the game right from the beginning. Its sad but I think he won't be a player that can go any further. Its time for the CBA to send more juniors to the Grand Prix and other minor tournaments so that they can earn ranking points. Apart from Lu Guangzu and maybe Zhou Zeqi there are none in the horizon. A sad state of affairs I am afraid. Why is it that the WS have so many juniors but not the men. Its very one sided. Come on CBA time for a wake up call?
Huang Yuxiang, like Qiao Bin, can't get any better, they have plateaued and , to make it worse, inconsistent. Sometimes they played above themselves, sometimes like crap, most of the time in-between and going nowhere.
There is a clear difference between Japans MD and Chinas. The Japanese play the front half of the court whilst the Chinese are deeper, playing the mid to back court.Thats why the Japanese are attacking often as they are hitting the shuttle downwards. When the Chinese hit to the baseline the Japanese will smash or drop and because the Chinese pair is further back their returns are safe and the Chinese do not attack. In fact being at the mid court they have to lift. The Japanese are ready for this. So it seems like the Japanese are faster as thay are pouncing on every shot. Chinas MD are slower as they are taller. So they are not comfortable at the front. The CBA should change their strategy in doubles play and have players that are shorter as well.
I don't think it's a height problem, more on the skills, the ability to read the game well and creativity. From what I have observed so far, most of Chinese MD have always relied heavily on smashes and drives. Their shots lack of purposes and lack of creativity as they just aim to hit the shuttle as fast and as hard as possible. Once they face opponents with solid defense or very good at pace-changing shots, they crumbled easily. The only exception in this category is Zhang Nan. He is very good at the front, not necessarily just being fast but his shots are very skillfully thought and placed with the most important factor in MD lately : creative counterattack. What he needs is a reliable and much less error prone partner to back him up. I also noticed that he had been having problems with his serves lately since the new rule took place. I don't know if Zhang Nan had undergone special training to be so good at it or if he was just some natural talented hardworking player, but CBA really needs smart and creative players like him. Liu Yuchen seems to have improved too in his variation of shots and placement in the last few months so I expect Li/Liu should show some good progress soon or later on.
Well done the China juniors winning the Asian Junior Championships team title today, beating Japan. Everyone played well. Li Shifeng played a clever game against a fast and talented Kaiti Kato. He slowed the pace in the interchanges which put his opponent off his tempo. Both players were good and interesting to see how they proceed tomorrow. China has won the team title last year as well but where do they go now? We will not hear or see of them until they are about 21 or 22 years old , based on thep record. Its very rare to see them proceeding to play in ROW tournaments after the Junior championships. China produces very good juniors but somehow their progress after this competition is very poor. I wonder why? They should form an u19 team to go out into the world and compete. Its also such a waste of their time and talent just watching whats going on with the ROW juniors while they are staying put in China..
