Victor is HUGE in China. They have as much market share in China as Yonex, if not more. Li-Ning is a small piece of the pie. China is a huge market, if you think about it, 1 billion people is around the population of Europe + USA. And there are badminton courts eveywhere. It is smart for Victor expand their market there.
A very good performance by China's juniors at the Bonny Masters tournament. In the MS, LGP was the best performer IMHO, taking down BQ and the Japanese senior KS. His game has matured, with good strokes and footwork. SY also did well to beat SS another senior Japanese player who has been playing well recently. A new "find" Lu Guangzu was exciting to watch. He also performed well beating FAK of Indonesia and HS a strong young Japanese player. And not to forget that he took one set against LD. Two others that I thought performed well were Tang Zhenning and Sun Feixiang. SF is only 18 years but his game had something that gave LDK of Korea problems. Lets hope that these players are given more exposure in tournaments later so we can track their performance. In the WS Chen Yufei and HBJ performed well . Then there were the MD,WD and XD. Of course ZS and CQ in the XD, WD and MD were outstanding. Based on these performances the future. especially the Mens side looks promising.
Interesting that you mentioned Sun Feixiang who will only turn 18 next May 15. I watched his match with Lee Dong Keun and, yes, I think this lad looks promising. Indeed, the unknown 19-year-old Lu Guangzu is a surprise package, coming from nowhere to catch our attention. Hope he doesn't turn out to be another Liu Kai who suddenly sprouted briefly and disappeared just as quickly, fading into oblivion. True, Lin Guipu ,who just turned 19 three days ago, born 21 April 1997, is most impressive here among the CHN juniors - Shi Yuqi, 20 years old now, born 28th Feb 1996, no less so actually though he is stopped by Chen Long in two straight sets in the QFs after disposing of the capable veteran Sho Sasaki in two straights sets the previous day. And I can't help but wish Xue Song will come back as soon as possible. In WS, CHN's future prospects seem quite heartening in the hands of the 22-yr-old Sun Yu, esp the rising 19-yr-old He Bingjiao , and the barely 18-yr-old Chen Yufei. In MD, the young 19-yr-old Zheng Siwei in particular and the 20-yr-old Huang Kaixiang have shown huge potential, together with Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, I believe CHN's MD woes in recent years is likely to come to an end soon as their current in-form seniors, Zhang Nan and Fu Haifeng, are expected to retire after the Rio Olympics. As for CHN WD, there's simply nothing to worry about, CHN's depth of talent in this discipline is unmatched anywhere in the world. Last but not least, in XD, CHN also have very bright prospects in Zheng Siwei, Chen Qingchen, Li Yinhui, Huang Kaixiang, and a couple others, such as He Jiting, Du Yue - where in various combinations these juniors have proven themselves in the senior circuit. Yes, CHN XD is clearly in good hands. All in all, the post-Rio scenario for CHN is looking pretty good, very encouraging.
Based on and extracted from this article http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2016-04-23/doc-ifxrprek3082121.shtml : Lin Dan spoke approvingly of Lin Guipu despite beating his young opponent 2-0, adding he and Shi Yuqi both display distinct characteristics. When told Lin Guipu has been dubbed by many as the "young Lin Dan", he smiled and said:" He doesn't play like me at all." Soon after he continued:" I think nobody would want to be a second Lin Dan, a second Lee CW, they should wish one day to be known and remembered by their own names."... Xu Chen said:" At this stage, our (his and Ma Jin's) current form may be slightly better than before. As for Olympic ranking points, as I've said before, we will strive for it one tournament at a time, one match at a time." At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to Ma Jin:" Without her, I wouldn't have persevered until now,including fighting for Olympic qualification, garnering Olympic ranking points in the final two stops, Changzhou (CHN Masters) and the Badminton Asia Championships, for which I believe Ma Jin and I can go further."
There is quite a difference in the Junior MS. Those that performed well could change their game strategy during the match.. Lu Guangzu is a very good example. That's why he could take the second set against LD. It would be great to see their next meeting The juniors that performed well had very good defence and could attack as well. LGP is one who could do that. SK is a very aggressive player as is R Takeshita. SK had disposed 4 chinese namely WZ, ZJP and TZ but was outplayed by LGP. Those juniors who lost to SK should study why he could do this. A big disappointment was HY who lost to Prannoy of India quite easily. He lost the plot quite quickly and made HSP grow in confidence. I thought he was another XS, but his game was easily read by his opponent. For the juniors it is always a good test to play against players from India. They are fast, aggressive and skilful. XS has won a tournament in India. T Zhenning was also a disappointment. After beating two very good players he failed badly against SK. His game was read easily by SK. Not enough variety and deception. Although SF lost to LDK, for a youngster he showed he had variety in his shots and his defence was very good. He lost to a very experienced player and didnt have enough patience and so made unforced errors. All these just my humble observations. Thanks Justin for your earlier comments.
Did he play against LD? He is just a provincial player. We may not even see him play again except may be in CBSL. The one who played well against LD is 19 year old Lu Guangzu, a CBSL player representing the province of Jiangsu.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Plays Badminton With A Robot http://english.gov.cn/premier/photos/2016/04/26/content_281475335585321.htm
What will happen if CHN get no gold at OLY? Thinking about it : in WD, little chance for gold. In MD, little chance for gold. In XD, good chance for gold but far from easy, ZZ not dominating any more, and Zhao and Zhang will have double duty. In WS, good chance for gold but as we saw since a year, there are three or four other players that can beat them. MS is the better chance of gold, but if LCW is on fire, then... So there is a reasonable chance that there will be 0 gold. That would be the worst OLY since there is badminton in OLY. It would surely cost LYB his head.
If possible, I believe China for MD should send Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen to Olympics. They have wins over the world champions, so that shows they have a legitimate chance to win the gold.
I'd be even more worried if China makes another clean sweep at Rio'16. Not only will the rest of the world be unhappy, BWF may run out of ideas what to do to make things still more difficult for China in future, short of outright, shameless discrimination.
Im glad Wang Yihan made a good showing recently. She deserves to go to the Olympics. She is a tiger and a fighter, which always gives her a chance to win. Wang Shixian is a whining, complaining, negative player who always finds a way to lose on the big moments. To me, the biggest disappointment is taking BYX out of the WD. China needs her. WD hasnt had good form recently. I think ZYL with TYT is the best option
I think Zhao Yunlei with Bao Yixin is not bad too, considering Tian Qing is having problems with ZYL, presumably. Then CHN would have the new pairing, ZYL/BYX, and Yu Yang/Tang Yuanting that's been performing up to par. A bit sad about Wang Xiaoli's departure, she is still good enough to make another strong combination with one the younger teammates, eg Tang Jinhua, Huang Yaqiong, Li Yinhui, Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Du Yue, so many choices.
The Olympic team should be as follows. MS: Lin Dan, Chen Long WS: Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan MD: Zhang Nan/Fu Haifeng, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen (Chai Biao/Hong Wei are ranked higher, but they can't seem to win when it counts) WD: Yu Yang/Tang Yuanting, Zhao Yunlei/Tian Qing XD: Zhan Nan/Zhao Yunlei, Xu Chen/Ma Jin (or Bao Yixin/Liu Cheng)
Too bad, Li Junhui/Liu Yuchen couldn't make it to Rio, too late for them. With Zhang Nan doing double duty while partnering Fu Haifeng and the other would-be Olympian pair of Chai Biao/Hong Wei, I doubt CHN's chances in MD for Rio is a serious contender for gold, at most a bronze I think. I read that Chai Biao is taken out of the Thomas Cup squad due to injury, that makes it even worse; hope he recovers quickly and fully in time for Rio. For the past one year or so, Zhang Nan has been working assiduously to prove himself in MD at the expense of XD, come Rio, I hope he can strike the optimal balance to have a strike at gold again in XD, MD is a bit far-fetched I should think so. But, who knows, Olympics often throws up surprises, some rising to the occasion playing above themselves even while others, including the highly fancied ones, wilting unexpectedly. The Olympics is a very different tournament from most others,perhaps unique, being the most coveted prize and the fact that it's a quadrennial event with so much at stake makes it even more unpredictable, unforeseeable as every Olympian dreams of standing at the winners' podium for which their career and life revolve around in the years leading to it. For many, it's either make or break; success, they are made for life; failure , they fade into obscurity.
Can you share what discrimination that Chinese Badminton is facing? Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk
Like reducing the max participants per country for the Olympics They don't want another London Olympics clean sweep also another case of LD = Gold LCW = Silver = CJ = Bronze in 2008 and LD = GoldLCW = Silver Chen Long = Bronze. They wanna break the secret formula of the winning Singles countryman will be also the bronze winner.... e.g. 2004 Taufik Gold and Sony Bronze.
