Yeah unfortunately I do not see any singles players from China that look like they are even on Chen Yu's level of yesteryears... If Chen Yu was playing nowadays he'd have a field day.
Chen Yu's claim to fame was he gave LCW a hard time, acting as one of LD many bodyguards. When you say you do not see any singles players from CHN that are on CY level, do you include CL? CL may be inconsistent, has ups and downs but he won several SS while CY hasn't,and when CL played LCW, that level of play IMO is way above CY.
For sure CL is above CY, but what about others? CY was a domestic beast... he regularly trumped everyone in domestic competitions, but he lacked mental strength and stamina on the world stage... I see no other promising Chinese players.... Look at WZM who is actually playing worse than 3-4 years ago. THW: Flashes of brilliance but complete mediocreness after one successful tournament seems the norm... cannot even beat a aging LHI. Huang Yuxiang: weaker version of DPY CYK: Domestic bully Gao Huan: not worth mentioning XS: Dunno seems overhyped, see nothing spectacular from him, maybe he'll prove me wrong...
I agree with you. China's MS isn't in a great place at the moment. WZM: Very disappointing, but has shown victories over the top non-LCW players in the world. THW: I think he will become a great player. CYK: Already 24, and he totally sucks. Gao Huan: Already 24, and he totally sucks even more. XS: Still young...but seems overrated. Don't see any real talent, and certainly not on the level of his peers like Axelson or Momota. Huang Yuxiang: Never seen him play. Latest results have been decent though.
Personally, he didn't quite lived up to my expectations of late after the initial euphoria that he generated in his debut performance at the AUS and the NZ Opens last year and that's because I'd expected more from a CHN up-and-coming player. But this IND Open GPG win of his is encouraging and to a considerable extent is redeeming though not fully yet as the tournament wasn't particularly strong, I've to admit. However,let's see things in perspective. I first took notice of him after watching his match with Lin Dan at the 2012 CBSL where he acquitted himself creditably against the living legend to catch my attention. Then at his maiden international tournament (excluding the junior events) , namely the AUS Open GPG'13, he beat the likes of Taufik Hidayat and Nguyen Tien Minh, both in two straight sets en route to the final where he lost a 3-set encounter to Tian Houwei who accounted for the sensational defeat of Lee CW at the semifinal. If you had watched Xue Song's victory over Alamsyah Yunus in the semifinal which was aired live on TV, you'd probably be impressed with his dynamic attacking game, esp his killer smash which time and again caught AY flat-footed. As we've already known, he followed it up with another runner-up performance back-to-back at the NZ Open GP'13 - really not bad for a 19-yr-old newbie's career start-up. After that, a number of lackluster results , mostly early exits, the best being QFs ,and two last-minute pullouts - this is his lull, uneventful, even disappointing period. We can also view it as a consolidation phase during which his strengths are known and weaknesses exposed such that he is forced to tweak,fine-tune, retool or , better still, re-invent himself. Then came his surprising defeat of Lin Dan at the CBSL last month albeit in three sets based on the 11-point scoring system, by 11-6, 6-11 and 12-10. Despite not being the standard 21-point system, it's still a notable result and should count for something simply because the opponent is none other than Super Dan. In fact, it was Lin Dan's only second defeat in CBSL history after having two days earlier suffered his very first shock defeat in the league championship to Tian Houwei in two straight sets, 9-11 and 8-11. Finally, we come to his IND Open GPG win, his maiden title. The tournament lineup included the entire Indian national squad and locals, namely, P Kashyap, K Srikanth, Anand Pawar, Ajay Jayaram, H S Prannoy, RMV Gurusaidutt,Sai Praneeth, Sourabh Varma, just to name the better-known ones. As for the foreign players, we have Zulfadli Zulkiffli,Goh Soon Huat,Brice Leverdez,Iskandar Zainuddin,etc, - on the whole, not a strong tournament but not too shabby either, just average. Xue Song won the title by beating six IND players in a row, not his fault that a couple of them were the lesser known ones as the more fancied ones fell by the wayside before meeting him but it's not that far-fetched to say he beat the best of the lot, K Srikanth, in a spectacular turnaround final showdown. All in all, I'd venture to say, moderately speaking, that Xue Song is arguably a high-potential, very promising, young talent to develop into a future star, aided by what CBA can offer him like no other. Indeed, esp. for a CHN player, the next couple of years are crucial for him to prove himself at the highest level or his career in the national squad, he's in the 2nd team at the moment , will end sooner than we expected. Last but not least, the legendary Morten Frost commentating on his matches during the semifinal and the final actually spoke highly of him; surely his words carry considerable weight, we shall see, it's early days yet.
I mention CL because you say " I do not see any singles players from China that look like they are even on Chen Yu's level of yesteryears", the word 'ANY' means 'ALL' and would include CL. Since you concur CL is above CY, then I agree with you. Of the CHN MS players who has beaten LCW, CY sure is a road block to LCW on many encounters. I think CY smokes (I seem to recall some posts saying that) and that may affect his stamina, his style is awkward but he sure had success playing LCW.
We have witnessed one of the, if not the best era in badminton with 4 of the best players (LD, LCW, TH, PG) playing each other in the same era. If one of these 4 players is playing in the next circle, he will dominate. And LD is greedy when it comes to majors, he swallowed the bulk of them, when it comes to SS/SSP, LD becomes generous, he is MIA. LCW, IMO, is the best player that comes out from MAS, the way he plays more than what he has won. Take away LD (if we call LD the best ever to play this game, I don't think we have too many people disagree on this) and LCW will dominate and become another greedy chap swallowing most of the majors. So, CHN is on a down cycle, and so is the ROW. We are comparing CHN next batch of MS with LD, BCL...that is quite unfair, comparing the not too good players to the best ever. CHN with so many young players (they may not be great players now, except CL) is a priviledge and a testamony to the success of CHN training system. I am sure other countries would be happy to adopt these players into their own. Why not compare CHN's current MS (delete LD and CL) players to the ROW. IMO, CHN MS is better than INA, KOR, MAS, DEN, JAP, and that comprises the best from the ROW. Not bad, and I think CHN has a lot more MS players playing in some provincial teams, hiding somewhere in the mountains that we have not heard of yet...another hidden mother of all weapon of mass destruction coming soon to haunt the ROW
I am only a new member of this forum but like all of you a keen badminton fan. On the issue of chinese badminton I only need to compare it with the table tennis performance and the connsistency of their players year in and year out. Their best players are young and exposed to the world very early. Even now they have a sixteen year old in the first team. It points out to the quality of their organisation, supported by the coaches and their training abilities. The CBA before Lin Dan etc were like the table tennis teams, invincible. But look at it now. So tell me doesnt this reflect on the people in charge? What happened ? Chinese badminton was at the top but now Thailand, Japan and Korea have caught up.
the best gen is over imo, LD LCW TH PG, FHF+CY KKK+TBH and JJS+LYD.. now its like a refresh, every countries starts all over again, and we can only wait for a new (group hopefully) legend to arise, however to reach where these legends of the previous gen are, it is going to be a rare sight, LD and LCW sudden outbursts, LD's overhead smash, LCW's speed and defence, TH's Backhand and PG's trick shots, all legends must have a trademark, however, i havent identified any special trademark shots from the new generation yet, xue song caught my attention with his deceiving slice when playing against LD 2 years ago but i think he discarded that stroke, so now most if not all players are just achieving consistency and not focusing on any remarkable shots. That is why other countries 'seem' to be catching up but its just probably due to the passé of the last generation and the birth of a new gen
The new generation. I agree with you that a new generation is upon us. But you do need to nurture, support and give them the confidence and experience to blossom into the champions of the future. Look at Japan's Momota. He was spotted at the junior tournaments and was taken to Europe to play at various competitions. And even won some of them. All the other Asean countries regularly do the same; alas not China. And by the time you see the China juniors they are over twenty years old! Look at the new names at the Sydney tournament now taking place The two singles players are 22 and 26 years old. But at the Asian Games the swimmers are young, so are the table tennis players. The YOG too had talented juniors. But are they given the chance to perform. Take Xue Song as an example. Like you I was impressed with Xue Song's cross court slice/smash and expected something new and refreshing on the scene. Similarly THW gave me a flutter of excitement. But what happened? They haven't blossomed at all. In fact I am more excited with Liu Kai who beat Momota and Srikanth (I think). Why was he not promoted or nurtured earlier. He is in his twenties too. I do worry about He Bing Jiao in this respect. Japan brought AY into the Japanese Asian Games. Japan has many older quite capable players but they want to NURTURE the new generation. I feel there needs to be a change in the CBA. A New Generation with new ideas and skills is needed mucho Pronto at the top, I mean.
invincible is too strong. Before Lin Dan, Indonesia were the top team. 94, 96, 98, 00, 02 thomas cups. Have to say China is on a downward trend. Back to 98, 99 when their only consistent performer was Sun Jun. Perhaps Sun Jun also needs to be drafted in again to help Xue Song.
Sorry Cheung, What I should have said was the Chinese ladies team in the past. But the nurture point is further emphasised with the performance of another junior, indonesian, in the Dutch Open. Wither the CBA juniors if they want to earn ranking points? And poor Xue Song in the Denmark Open.
standard of china badminton is much further ahead than the rest of the world. why bother send their young stars all the way there and waste money? u think usa basketball teams can improve if travel to asia or europe to play?
Right, congratulations to Xue Song winning his second title, the Macau Open GPG, after the IND GPG early this year. But, frankly, as far as a CHN player is concerned, nothing to shout about, the CHN newsmedia - I only spotted one - merely reporting the bare facts without any fanfare. Even so, what heartens me is how Xue Song played and won, he's clearly raised his game another level as demonstrated in the final against an improved, in-form Wong Wing Ki, and the semifinal as well with another young player, Kim Dong Hoon, from KOR. I believed Chen Yu is the one coaching him regularly, not only on courtside during tournaments, and he's doing an excellent job bringing out the fierce, confident and steady fighter in Xue Song, a style that suits him to the hilt. No doubt Xue Song still has room for improvement and I'm hopeful of his continued growth and development going forward. JiaYou !
Yes XS has improved and he is a very intelligent player. Look at the way he played in the Quarters,semis and the final. He adopted different strategies; against Rajiv Joseph he lifted more often but knowing well the powerful smashes of WKW he played net shots and frustrated his opponent consistently. Against the talented Korean left hander he varied his shots and upped his speed and footwork. Kims lack of experience also helped XS. But Kim is certainly an exciting player on the scene, a combination of LHI and SWH. Kudos to Chen YU his coach.
Still can't get past Axelsen though which is disappointing since many Chinese players don't seem to have a problem with him