Do you know who is responsible for doing such a good job with the Mens doubles?
I'm not sure as I don't or seldom read CHN badminton fora, too time-consuming as I've other things outside badminton to take care of. But allow me to speculate, I've no doubt the two Korean coaches CBA engaged must have played a not insignificant role, still based on my understanding of how CBA usually work and implement policies, the decision to form or split pairs have to be approved by the head Coach Zhang Jun with inputs and recommendations by the Chinese MD coach(es) as well as consultations with the hired foreign coaches who are largely responsible for training their MDs department.
Anyway, whatever, whoever made the choice of partnering Ou Xuanyi with Liu Yuchen in place of the retired Li Junhui and splitting Ou Xuanyi from Zhang Nan should be commended for his(their) insight and judgement.
As we know, Ou XY underperformed when partnered with Zhang Nan, the pairing just didn't work out. The way I see it, OXY was in awe of ZN, an illustrious senior, highly decorated and a living legend with multiple World and Olympic golds, so much so that he must've felt the heavy pressure of the burden of expectation and the desire to be worthy of being selected as ZN's partner, to the extent that he tried to push himself too hard not to disappoint ZN and the coaches. As a result, I surmise he probably felt somewhat constrained, consciously or subconsciously, therefore, was unable to play freely and let himself go, even reproaching himself for every error, point or the match lost that he believed could be attributed to his failure, rightly or wrongly.
However, fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case when OXY was chosen to partner Liu Yuchen whose status and accomplishments are not at or near the level of Zhang Nan's, notwithstanding the fact that LYC , two years his junior at age 26, is already a world MD champion with Li Junhui, a silver Olympic medalist and several prestigious title wins to his name. I won't be the least bit surprised LYC treated him like a buddy, not so much a junior-senior kind of relationship, unlike the one he had with his four-year-older highly-regarded senior Zhang Nan, now age 32, OXY being 28..
I mean, from my observations of the way OXY and LYC react, communicate and relate to each other on court, the pair appears quite at ease, natural and unrestrained with each other, behaving almost like besties who understand and accommodate each other without reservation. The two now complement each other rather well, though occasionally OXY would exhibit signs of nervousness or over-eagerness to win esp. when falling behind in the score or at critical moments but, not to worry, LYC being the more stable and self-possessed of the two is often able to steady the ship, clearly showing leadership qualities. Indeed, the two gel and click as a pair, thus bringing out the best in each other. That's my opinion.
By the way, apart from this exciting pair which forces us to look at them in a new light, especially after their sensational success today at the INA Open ' 22, a fairytale run from qualifier stage to final victory in an inspiring, all-conquering fashion - there are two other CHN MD pairs that should deserve our attention albeit they acquitted themselves in a little less spectacular manner, namely, Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang and He Jiting/Zhou Haodong. I'd go so far as to say, CHN MD is opening a new chapter going forward. Very interesting and exciting times ahead, for Chinese fans, in particular.