Although Huang Yaqiong/Tang Jinhua has just beaten the KOR Chang/Lee, the newly crowned AE champion, I don't regard them as strong as Cheng Qingchen/Jia Yifan and Li Yinhui/Huang Dongping mainly because of Tang Jinhua who is not fully match fit yet after coming back from a long injury layoff where recently she actually registered to play seven tournaments and withdrew from every single one of them last minute. So tomorrow's WD final, I give the edge to the JPN pair, Hirota/Fukushima.
There is no denying CHN's female players have declined considerably after London 2012. My theory as to why that's the case is as follows: (1) CHN could send three singles players to the Olympics in the past. After London, they can only send two. I think there was a cut in funding and resources at CBA as a result. (2) After the women's doubles scandal at London, many fingers were pointed at LYB, both domestically and internationally. LYB suddenly realised winning at all costs was not right!! (3) Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012 / early 2013. Pursuing economic growth at all costs was no longer a priority for China. He started a massive crackdown on corruption, which is still on-going. The sports ministry suddenly realised winning gold medals at all costs was also not right, too!! (4) Many good coaches left the national squad after London. Tang Xue Hua (of the women's singles) retired and Pan Li (of the women's doubles) returned to Jiangsu.
Quite true, but as Tang Jinhua recovers and gains more match fitness, I except this pair to be better than Li Yinhui/Huang Dongping for sure, I don't really see Huang/Li as being able to reach top-tier in their current iteration.
Only two players / two teams are allowed per Country per category for Rio 2016. There is a decline only with respect to WS and not on all aspects. Champions can't be made overnight. Post the WY / LiX/ WS trio, China tried many players in the past in WS but players haven't performed to their expectations. Same holds good for MS too. Post LD / CL, not many prospects in MS as of now. Chen Yufei seems to a better prospect in WS for China as of now. In all other categories, WD or XD, female players continuously emerged , evolved and performed well.
(4) Many good coaches left the national squad after London. Tang Xue Hua (of the women's singles) retired and Pan Li (of the women's doubles) returned to Jiangsu.[/QUOTE] I think Chen Jin's record is especially lacklustre.
(5). Actually, they could not find a solution to overcome some of current top WS players in bigger events. Because, they are better than current Chinese WS in all aspects. If they find to tackle a person, another emerges . So, it is difficult for them to tackle all of them at a stretch. They need 2 or 3 players to tackle all. But they are not good enough. "The sports ministry suddenly realised winning gold medals at all costs was also not right, too!!" -- I think you simply underrated all other non-chinese players or you did not give due respect to all non-chinese players who struggled hard to come on top. China tops the infrastructure facilities provided to players . They still top the list in investment tobadminton. Still top the coaching level arrangements. Still top the number of participats who play Badminton. But you have to admit, they all are not enough. Current Top 5 WS players is an example of it. 1) Tai 2)Sindhu 3)Carolina marin 4)akane 5)Sung ji hyun Even Li xuerui, Shixian and Yihan could not tackle the current top 5 players all the time.
(3) Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012 / early 2013. Pursuing economic growth at all costs was no longer a priority for China. He started a massive crackdown on corruption, which is still on-going. The sports ministry suddenly realised winning gold medals at all costs was also not right, too!! But I read somewhere Xi is a football fan and he wants China to be good in football.
LXR is great to watch. But to say that she pioneered the WS backhand is to ignore TTY s natural backhand way before LXR s trained backhand. As for her domination, it s a reflection of the weak non-CHN WS field during that period and the fact that she dominates her teammates. ( Using H2H data is nice but too elementary. Break it down to H2H over different periods , you can get a different picture , indicating a reverse trend as one player shows progress and the other , decline , over a long period.) With non-CHN WS now dominating the top 5, it s hard to see CHN WS dominating again.
CHN dominates, or LXR dominated, because the non-CHN were weak ? What a tautological statement. So, going by your simple logic, Lin Dan and LCW dominated or continues to dominate because the rest were or are weak ? Why not pose the question to all the professional players, coaches and past greats and hear from them ?
last year, a lot of people think no is the best girl to counter marin after she defeated marin 3 times in 2 tournaments marin 3-4 no: no won at 2015 all england semi final (then took the tittle). Marin won a ss final marin 3-4 saina: saina won a ss final. Marin won 2015 all england final and 2015 wc final marin 6-4 pv: pv won a ss final. Marin won at 2014 wc semi final (then took the gold) and 2016 olympic final marin 3-4 wyh: wyh won at 2014 all england r1 . Marin won at 2014 wc r3 (then took the gold) marin 4-5 wsx: wsx won at all england r1 2013, won at 2016 uber cup group match (but china beat spain 5-0 or 4-1 is not different). Later, china won 2016 uber cup. Marin won at 2015 wc quater final (then took the gold). Also she beat wsx in 2015 malaysia ss semi final and then took the tittle. marin 3-3 lxr: lxr won at 2012 olympic group match (then took the gold). Marin won a ss final, 2014 wc final, 2016 olypic semi final (then took the gold) marin 4-5 tai: tai won 2 ss finals. Marin won at 2014 wc quater final and 2015 all england semi final (then took both tittles) marin 2-5 rat: rat won 2013 wc quater final (then took the gold). 2015 india open, marin was leading 17-9 but lost 10 consecutive points to rat, 17-19. Rat won first game then won the match. They beat each other in all england quater final. Marin won in 2016, rat won in 2017 (the worst match that marin ever lost) rat is marin's biggest opponents