Chinese Badminton

What a revelation, the CHN MD pair of Liu Yuchen/Ou Xuanyi, I never thought the two could play like that and was blown away while watching them got the better of their opponents, yesterday against the crack INA pair of Alfian/Ardianto, and today against the MAS Aaron Chia/Soh WY, in convincing fashion at the ongoing INA Open '22.

And I just realised they also bested the legendary INA veteran pair of Ahsan/Hendrawan in R1. Incredible how they stormed to the final beating all their opponents in two straight games.

The two play as if transformed, totally new pair, Liu YC so good at the front court area in the fast -flat exchanges, Ou XY power smashing at the back court , tenacious in defense, incisive at the front court as well - their quick-thinking, spatial awareness and shot selection are both efficient and effective that they are a match for any of the very best INA, KOR and JPN MDs pairs in the world now.

In short, Liu/Ou have reinvented themselves, an exciting pair to watch at the moment, just waiting to see if they can top it off with a Super1000 title win tomorrow. All the best !

 

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.

 

Actually, the most telling factor according to Xia Xuanze is the substantial diminishing pool of talents in almost all the sports, not just badminton, where very few are willing to turn professional, esp when they are the only child as their parents are very concerned about their future and insistent that their children put academic pursuits before anything else. It explains why even though various sports are growing in popularity across the board , the great majority are amateurs, and even those very few who are keen to take it up as professionals, as long as they are academically inclined, they will still find time to finish their studies first, at least get a first degree.

In my humble opinion, it has to do mainly with, first, China's phenomenal growth in her economy the past forty years or so, particularly the last two decades offering a wide variety of opportunities to get ahead in life as evidenced in the country becoming more affluent; and, two, professional sports as a career is risky business, fraught with uncertainty, short-lived, susceptible to or fear of sustaining (debilitating) injuries for physically-demanding sports, success rate (winning tournaments) is generally not high and usually short-run , income typically not very attractive as only a few can reach among the top to earn big or sufficiently good money, and most face difficulties switching occupation or career post-retirement (which happens way earlier than the normal or mainstream occupation/career) as they lack the relevant or suitable skills and experience other than sports-related fields, the list goes on.

Remember Tang Yuanting who went against her parents' wishes and decided to take part in the Rio'16 Olympics before determining whether to go to University overseas?