Her biggest competitors were her compatriots ( WYH, WSX even WX and Yanjiao Jiang), who were very much at the top at that time.
Contenders were always there! ( Where do you want to put all the other WS back then? lol ) Only LXR at her peak exceeded the rest, esp. opponents from other countries. Even Saina Nehwal still lost more to LXR than winning at that time. Marin appeared at the low end of LXR. Anyhow, it's just a historical reverberation... what matters is the present time so have no worry, just move on...
Chen yufei is already there. She will top the Chinese badminton for some time . She has height and technique. Though He bingjiao relies on technique, very good players will make her toast. Because of her slow movement, she could not withstand current crop of physical WS players whereas Chen yufei can. I actually expected She would beat Sunday in round 1. If you are little bit out of focus, she will utilise it. She would have beaten Tai as well. But she came back to senses at right point of time. Sent from my SM-G600FY using Tapatalk
Never mind then. I thought you were trying to insinuate that there were no strong contenders apart from SN at that time and that LXR rise to the top was because of less competitive field.
I really have take a liking with Kamura/Sonoda's play. It is consistent and less mistake than most pair these day. I am looking at you Goh/Tan.
Not sure why everyone is falling all over themselves predicting CYF is the next best thing for CHN WS when she just got her tail handed to her by her younger and junior teammate CXX last month at the Swiss Open final...
It is like they lost the plot after interval. Let this be a lesson to kids there: never go for a interval.
I was about to say but you beat me to it, In 2012 from the beginning of the year all the way to the LOG gold, a winning streak of how many matches (34 out of 35?), and anybody these two years can equal that ? None. Not only that , was it in 2014 where Li Xuerui only played 10 tournaments and winning I forgot how many of them to stay at WR1 with a record-breaking 100K+ ranking points, the first and only WS to do so. Anybody today who could or has done that? Again, none. Just because she choked at the two WC and the ROG'16, doesn't mean she's overrated. Wang Yihan didn't call LXR the most complete player in the circuit, a class above the rest for nothing. And don't forget, while she cracked in the individual majors, she was unbeaten at the team majors, whether Sudirman Cup or Uber Cup, 12/14 matches won, no defeat. Even Steen at one time considered LXR the best WS player for quite some time. Now that she's injured, some people conveniently forget about her and even dismissed her records. I really hope she makes a great comeback one day to prove her critics wrong and shut the detractors up though her previous achievement is already undeniable. I remember the sport writer Dev Sukumar writing in sportskeeda an article titled - Li Xuerui: A Great at 21 ? https://www.sportskeeda.com/badminton/li-xuerui-a-great-at-21 Her spell of dominance in the circuit is simply longer and more convincing than anyone else's today during these past 4 or so. I rest my case.
You called that breaking the Chinese wall ? How? Where ? When ? In what way ? How come Saina herself never said that ?