Chinese Badminton

I think highly of Tan Ning .

In fact, I've said more than once that I hoped to see Tan Ning switching to or concentrating solely on women's singles instead of doing double duty in WS and WD as she's stretching herself too thin, and I see her as a bright prospect in women's singles more than in women's doubles, and that at a time when CHN WS discipline is in the doldrums after the retirement of Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian. Recall how Tan Ning fought tenaciously with Chen Yufei in the National Championships/National Games a year or two ago.

Now that she's playing mostly if not only WD, I feel that she's showing good potential too. Maybe CBA might one day try her out with Liu Shengshu, who knows that might possibly be a lethal, most devastating combination.

 

I overheard while watching one of the Zhuafan livestreams where the livestreamer and the forumers were conversing about the entire CHN National Team members feeling homesick, esp during the Chinese New Year season. Not only that, a few of the players were indisposed or slightly injured, for example, He Bingjiao was said to be suffering a minor injury in one of the matches and insisted on finishing the match in order not to lose ranking points; and Chen Yufei, Wang Yilu, Zheng Siwei were under the weather, including having diarrhea, stomach flu, or unable to acclimatize to the heat and humidity in certain countries.

Let's hope after the February tournament break where only the second tier players will be taking part in the Thai Masters from 31 Jan to 5 Feb, the whole CHN Team, who will probably go home to spend some time with their families back home, will come back fresh and recharged for the European Tour in March.

 

Weng Hongyang, well, he actually didn't do too badly at the Sunrise Thai Open though he lost to Lin Chun-Yi in R1 narrowly, 21-18, 15-21, 19-21, a close fight.

In a way, WHY was just unlucky to meet the surprise package, LCY, whom we now know progressed all the way to the final, in the process taking out Shi Yuqi in the semis, 21-15, 21-19, and will take on Ng Kah Long for the title tomorrow.

Still, WHY has been off the boil in a while, hope to see him have another breakout tournament soon.

Sadly, Team CHN's Men's Singles category is in crisis for some time now, there is not a single MS who can really deliver when it matters. Not looking too good for Team CHN in the upcoming 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships from 14-19 February, not to mention the Sudirman Cup 2023 from 14 to 21 May.

 

Just bear in mind that all these new pairings are still work-in-progress, apart from., say, Chen Qingchen/Jia Yifan which is firm at least for the next Olympic cycle.

In other words, I think CBA is continually trying out the new pairings or combinations and reshuffling them not so much based on how they perform during training but in tournament conditions for that's how they really perform in actuality. That's to say, how well you do in training only shows potential, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the tournament results and, of course, how the coaches view the players performance and potential.

That's how I see it.