Except for the good wishes, it's a poor video. Um, was it shot with a cheap camera phone? No one seems excited... and, of course, they are reading from a script! Why must Li Yongbo wear a cap and an Antarctic explorer's jacket indoors? And couldn't they find multiple locations instead of taking turns to stand stiffly in a random corner??
Have been wondering why no news of Jiang Yanjiao since the last All-China National Games (CNG, for short) and she hasn't been registered to play in any tournaments so far - it turned out that she's retired too after the CNG. Now I came across an article which mentioned that she retired quietly soon after Wang Lin and Wang Xin announced their retirements on their weibo (microblogs) http://sports.sina.com.cn/o/2014-02-17/16347026525.shtml . As for Wang Lin, yes, she's taken up coaching, a decision she made soon after returning to Hangzhou for recuperation from her third knee injury sustained at the 2012 National Team Championship but without undergoing surgery.Later after the 2013 CNG where she played only one match, she made up her mind to retire. Some time ago, she even attended a one-week coaching class at the Shanghai Sports Institute. To further her specialized knowledge, she is preparing to take an entrance exam to become an on-the-job research student, balancing between studies and career. If her appearance as a coach at the just concluded China International Challenge is any indication, thanks to the photos AlanY posted at her thread, I think she is one of the coaches for the CHN national junior team. As for Wang Xin, she's taking up Li Yongbo's suggestion and enrolled herself as a student of Beijing Sports University's Champions Class program of which Lu Lan, the 2009 WS World Champion, is already a student of whom Wang Xin once approached for related course information. If everything goes smoothly,Wang Xin will begin her course in September this year according to what she revealed.
Sometimes I wonder why Chinese men doubles seem to retire early. For example, He Hanbin, Tao Jiaming, Shen Ye, Guo Zhendong all retired aren't even 30 yet. Most of them continue playing in the CBSL. In XD, the only quality men are zhang nan and xu chen. Wouldn't it be good to have extra men to play?
It's a good idea. But, you never know, BWF may limit 1 pair per nation for the Olympics in the future!!!
CBA has some good second-line players (in comparison to other countries) such as Chen Yuekun, Xue Song, Gao Huan, Tian Houwei in MS as well as Han Li, Sun Yu, Yao Xue, Suo Di in WS. Why does CBA not send them out consistently to participate in GP/GPG events? I feel like it would be much more conducive to the development of these young players to compete more, especially internationally and on a level somewhat lower than the SS/SSP events where they can consistently make it into the later stages of the event.
Maybe it gets expensive to send them out to tournaments. Also they maybe want them to stay back and focus on training.
That's true. Prize winnings are not at the point of being able to support flight and accomodation to a tournament. Plus, China have a big pool of players and ex-players who can all train together.
I agree with Woffle, training and then competing against compatriots only in domestic events, such as CBSL and national championships, is very different from playing at international events against foreign competition - there is simply no substitute for the mental aspect of competition where the stakes involved are much higher, the pressure , the expectation, the fear of losing, the elation of winning, and,most importantly, the chance to play in the international circuit and the hopes of bringing glory to nation and self. Prize money shouldn't be a consideration, CHN can afford the expenses for flight,accommodation and support staff - it is the growth and development of the players, the valuable and irreplaceable experience gained, the real test on the international stage that truly matter for the CHN second stringers and juniors to raise their game. As we know, the ROW routinely send their players to the lower tier events, the GP/GPGs, even the Int'l Challenge and Int'l Series levels; maybe CHN should do the same for their second tier and junior players, at least to the grand prix events.
I've heard something which is well known in table tennis in China which applies to badminton too - not my opinion, it's just what I've heard! There are many many talents in the business of badminton who have the skills get into the top 20. But since they have so many players in their pool, they intentionally sacrifice a lot of them and let them being sparring players for their whole career. This also means that there are sparring players they only have the task to imitate Lee Chong Wei's style to let their compatriots train against him. Does someone here know more about this fact / rumour or whatever it is? I was kinda surprised when I've heard that. But if I think about it, it's very realistic that this happens in table tennis and in badminton as well. Eventhough it's very sad for all the sacrificed talents. Their only opportunity to attend in international tournaments and make a badminton career is to change their nationality by joining another country. But I can imagine that many parents of these talents are not rich enough to support their child outside of China, so... That it will remain a sad story for most of them...
CBA appears to be looking for the best combination in WD. I guess there's pretty much no question that it would involve Wang Xiaoli. She's the best all around player and the most powerful smash in the world. But I don't understand why they would pair her with Ma Jin. This doesn't seem to be a good pairing, since Ma Jin isn't very offensive-minded, preferring to use drops and blocks and pushes. I think Zhao Yunlei or Bao Yixin would even make better pairing. Why don't CBA try one of those players? ZYL is extremely offensive minded, and I think would actually suit WXL very well.
Ma Jin and WXL used to be partners prior to Uber 2010. But when they lost in Uber 2010, they spilt. I doubt they would be back together again, especially since Yu Yang and WXL as a pair is simply unstoppable.
Yu Yang was born in 1986, so in Rio she would be 30, which is pretty old especially for a WD player in the CBA, which is so deep anyways. Pairing MJ and WXL would make some sense insofar as they are both younger, although CBA probably still want MJ to be concentrating on XD.
Such luxury,spoilt for choice on who to partner who in CHN WD. What a contrast with their MD where CHN don't even have a strong reliable pair yet and only the new combination of Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan is just beginning to show some promise.
