poor Xia~ It's not sure Bao can attend Beijing Olympics because there are many good players in China. Frankly, I don't think Bao has strong mentality. Poor Xia!!!!!!!!!! He was World Champion. I didn't think he can not go Athens.
Oh no! I was hoping Li would send Xia, but I kind of figured he wouldn't. This is, for the most part, Chen Hong's last chance at a win in a major tournament.
Bao Chun Lai is not new anymore, he has been on the senior tour for a good couple of years already. Coming into prominence at the same time as Lin Dan, but it is Bao who has not achieved as much in comparison, but still better than Chen Yu. For any other country Bao would be good enough to be no.1 but for China... He just needs to win a major tournament in my opinion to take him to the next level.
I think the only Chinese player other teams fear is Lin Din. Chen and Xia are over the hill, and Bao is inconsistent. Choosing Xia will be unfair to Chen and Bao. So the best way to just base on the ranking. That's the fairest.
Xia is a more reliable player, more consistent than Chen Hong although the latter did rule world badminton for some time and has a more varied arsenal of gameplay to go against just about everybody. The only thing he can't match Chen Hong is in terms of physical fitness as Chen Hong would last longer than him, provided his opponents are not of the stroke-build ie Lee Chong Wei, in which case Xia would be better equipped to handle. Still, there can't be any dispute in that anyway - if selections are done based on rankings. Bao had proven to be quite formidable ever since the TC finals in Jakarta but is not quite the 'man to fear'. He could just storm into the semifinals, lifting everybody's hope then crash in unspectacular fashion. And I agree, Lin Dan is the true potential winner here.
The seedings for the Olympics will be based on the Olympic qualification ranking list on 1st May. Click http://www.worldbadminton.net/Portal/documents/Qual_MS_040501.htm to see. Xia is ranked 7th. He would have been seeded 6th if chosen, assuming Wong CH, Lee HI and Peter Gade all entered. Being the 6th seed he will have half the chance of meeting another Chinese in the quarters. Choosing Bao and Chen Hong will assure 3 Chinese in the semis if they all beat their opponents, so they could get gold, silver, bronze. So, discarding Xia is a strategic decision by the Chinese. If Xia's recent form was exceptionally good, then it would have been a different story. But from my point of view, I think Bao, Chen and Xia all have pretty equal chances.
hcyong, Xia Xuanze wouldn't have met any of his team mates before the semis either : The rule for the Olympics is that for each NOC, the first and second player are placed in opposite halves, then the third one is placed in one of the remaining quarters... so he can't possibly meet a teammate before the semis, that's impossible! Anyway, I think he had more chances of winning than Chen Hong or Bao Chunlai, but Li Yongbo didn't want to take the risk apparently...
sad I am shock and sad too . Xia is the world champion and can you imagine the world champion did not get to go to the Olympics , this will be the last ever chance . Morever Xia said 4 years ago that he would like to get the gold in the next Olympics which means this one ! Anyway let's see how Lin Dan and Bao fare this time since this is like a major event for them , do they have the mentality for this kind of championship ?
You are right. Forgot about that. But I still think it's hard to choose from Chen, Bao and Xia. Based on the world rankings, Xia should not have any complaints.
so disappointed..................... I still cant get it why Xuanze is not chosen, i understand why they choose Lindan and Baochunlai,....but why whyy on earth they choose CHEN HOng.... the player who has never won against Taufik, the player who has not win many major tournaments...oh no...xuanze is more a fighter than ch, he will not be easily giving up points or games, unlike ch and more importantly xuanze has better records against other country's players........i really cant understand...so wat is chen hong ranking is better than xuanze.....
Rankings is the fairest and most advantageous way to select the players in terms of seeding. Although Xia did win the worlds he certainly benifitted from the chinese team orders in doing so and Lin, Bao deserve their chance this year. Xia hasn't shown the form to be a serious threat this year.
so u meaning, xia can won the world championship last year, its ALL becoz of the team order..??? ...bch and lindan indeed deserve their spot in the athen, the one that i dont understand is CHenhong.....if xia hasn't shown the form to be a serious threat this year, so do chen hong.....
Looking at Xia's significant results since winning the worlds: First two events injured, walkovers Sep Malaysia Lost to Bao 1/16 Denmark beat M. Christianson 3 games, lost Park Tae Sang 1/32 German lost Park Tae Sang 1/32 Oct Hong Kong beat Chen Yu (3 games), Bt Boesen (3 games), lost Polsana (3 games) Semi Nov China bt K. Asuncion 3 games, bt Lee Chong Wei 3 games, lost Lin Dan Qtrs March Swiss bt K Oedum 3 games, lost Kuncoro 3 games, qtrs All ENgland bt Park Hwang sung 3 games, lost Vaughan 3 games 1/32 Korea bt Joppien, Park tae sung, Chen Hong, Winner! April Japan lost Gade 1/16 May TC bt K Han, bt Santoso June Malaysia bt Rasmussen 3 games, lost Park Hwang Sung semis So Xia has come back into some form in the last three months, winning the Korean and making semis in Malaysia but his form before that was terrible. Almost every match going to three games, even against very low world ranked players. Only at the Korea which he won did he start to dispatch players in two games. Considering that he would have been one of the top seeds for all these events you notice poor his results were last year. I would suggest its Xia's concentration which has let him down, when he's good he's a world beater but he consistently lets players he can beat back into matches and over a tournament you can't expect to keep winning three end matches and progress.
thoughts... I remember the most recent 5* tournaments... In Japan Lin Dan and Bao reached the semfinals (Chen lost from Park and Xia from Gade), but in Korea.... Xia beat Chen in the finals. In Malasia, both Xia and Chen lost in the semifinals... and Bao/Lin lost in the quarter finals.
We Can give a chance to Chen hong Even if he never made good results against opponent from other country, he's one of the best player of the world and Xia has already been at the olympics games not him Just let him a chance he deserves this selection . We will see what he will do at olympics games.
i still think it's a pity that Xuanze isn't able to fulfil his wish of changing his bronze medal to a gold medal.... he didn't even get his chance to attain it........ hiaz