I'm afraid having enough rest wouldn't help much and ,besides, there weren't that many tournaments during his time. It was his impaired lungs (reduced capacity) from contracting pneumonia at age 20 that handicapped him. In fact, he was ruled out by the doctor from competitive badminton but he persisted and by sheer willpower and determination carried on for several more years albeit with fluctuating form despite which he still kept us spellbound with such wonderful badminton that till today many of us can't help but engage in counterfactual thinking. Anyway, I'd better not open the floodgates of 'what if', 'if only', etc.
Agree. No arguments with your point! However, the thrust of my point was to underline only the "famous" aspect that Ferrerkiko brought up. ...and that is directly related to the times the players existed in as pros; exposure, perception and build-up were much more low-key and even staid, compared to the explosion of media awareness and slick positioning post-2005. Much more money has found its way into the sport (sponsorships and endorsements, brand ambassadorships etc) and all of this along with the social media network, has changed how we perceive our present-day heroes and icons. ZJH had (has) a quirky and impish character behind his pro persona, and in part due to his physical problems, could also be seen as more fallible and human. And therefore, possibly, more easily related to and more respected and appreciated (loved?) had he to co-exist in the same era as LD. This is just my personal opinion.
Check this out! A very nice promo for Badminton Challenge, a national wide competition among amateurs: http://video.sina.com.cn/p/sports/o/v/2014-03-21/151663645623.html
I know I'm going to sound like a typical CHN fan but, honestly speaking, apart from the top 3 WS, namely LXR,WYH and WSX, I'm keenly watching and looking forward to the rise of Sun Yu, Liu Xin, Yao Xue and,possibly a bit later, Qin Jinjing and He Bingjiao to join the ranks of their illustrious sisters; esp the first three aforementioned of the latter,i.e. SY,LX and YX, whom I believe are already as good as ,if not better than, any of the ROW's top 10 players. Hold on,it's not that I've forgotten to mention Suo Di, just that I'm somehow more impressed with Yao Xue whom I feel has a better attacking game but needs to cut down on her loose shots and tighten her game, including her defensive ability and more patient construction of rallies both of which she has recently shown considerable improvement. Nevertheless, I'm certainly not writing Suo Di off,it's simply my preference for Yao Xue at the moment; the future is hard to say, the more so for CHN players. As for CHN MS, apart from Lin Dan, a special case for I consider him semi-retired despite his expressed earnest intention to come back because I really don't expect him to play that many tournaments except the majors as well as what is necessary to maintain his world ranking - there is only Chen Long, the most outstanding one whilst the rest of his teammates are, at best, no better than any of the top players in the ROW, with the exception of Lee CW, of course, who is in the same league as LD and CL.
A very interesting article for an inside look of Chinese Badminton This is an article about the former team manager of the Chinese National Team Li WeiGuo. http://translate.google.com/transla...ports.qq.com/a/20140331/021843.htm&edit-text= A few interesting factoids from the article He joined the army team in 1975. But the reduction in military came and he was released. He became a worker at a textile factory. When ShangDong province wanted to set up a badminton team, they found him and he was back in badminton. In 1995, he joined the QingDao team. Facing limited budget, he offered to give up the budget but wanted autonomy. He opened the courts to the public and got commercial sponsorship. The team came out of poverty and was able to get heating for the courts. He was even able to send his players to play Grand Prix events. In 2001, when the national team was training in QingDao, LYB asked him to become the National Team manager. At 2009 World Championships in India, there were terrorist threats. Sandbag bunkers with machine guns were everywhere. England pulled out and went home. Danish and Dutch teams moved into their local consulates. The security personnels at the Chinese team's hotel had only run-down weapons. After a lengthy wait, the Chinese Sports General Administration told the badminton team to make a decision for themselves. The players started to panic. The team called the Chinese embassy for help. After discussions with BWF and the organizers, the BWF VP and local police chief promised to upgrade the security for the Chinese team. Next day, the team saw new security personnels with new weapons, team bus and policy cruise were also replaced by new vehicles. Only then the Chinese team decided to stay. At 2012 Olympics, after "the event", the team was preparing to appeal. But the Chinese Olympic Delegation ordered the team to accept the BWF decision.
Good to see Zhong Qianxin and Xia Huan back! They were very promising youngsters before both got injured.
I gotta say, I'm very impressed with China's next generation of XD pairs. Namely: Bao Yixin/Liu Cheng and Huang Yaqiong/Lu Kai. Both pairs have been showing really impressive performances and seem to be improving rapidly. I think the best player of the bunch is Huang Yaqiong. She plays a little like Natsir/Ma Jin. Great speed and anticipation and control at the net. I'm convinced she will be a world champion in the future. I wonder if a Liu Cheng/Huang Yaqiong might produce even better results. Huang's style is mostly to play blocks and pushes to create lifts. Liu Cheng is best on the attacking smash and drive.
Credit to Chen Jin, under his tutelage as chief coach, CHN WS is rising in dominance and continuing to produce worldbeaters every so often. The same cannot be said for CHN MS which - apart from Chen Long who is no better than LCW as well as Lin Dan making a comeback (but after such a long layoff, he might need a longer time to regain his form) - has for the time being stagnated a bit. But in MD, it's heartening to see a few promising younger pairs coming up and hopefully assume the mantle soon to challenge the best in the world. The ones worth mentioning are Kang Jun/Liu Cheng, Wang Yilv/Zhang Wen, Liu Yuchen/Li Junhui, Lu Kai temporarily with Cai Yun, Huang Kaixiang/Zeng Siwei, the last pair is still competing at the junior level.
Mens singles I dont understand why the CBA doesnt send their juniors to the minor tournaments like the Smiling Fish being held in Bangkok now. If you notice Malaysia and Indonesia have done so. Malaysia has many participating in that tournament. Not only can they gain experience its also a benefit for them to train harder. It would have been nice to see some talented 15 to 18 year olds there.
Chinese Juniors I dont understand why the CBA did not send their talented 15 to 18 year old juniors to the Smiling Fish tournament being held in Bangkok. Indonesia and more so Malaysia have quite a number represented. It would be an experience as well as an incentive for the young players to compete in the Tournament.
They have until Sunday to finalize the team. But LYB said that due to the May Day long weekend, he would decide by April 30. Maybe some people are fighting for the last spot in the CBSL Finals on May 1 and May 3. Maybe LYB just started his long weekend early and forgot about the announcement after a few drinks.
As reported here http://sports.qq.com/a/20140513/024538.htm , a few days ago, Head Coach Li Yongbo, Deputy Head Coach Tian Bingyi, former Team Leader Li Weiguo, Chief Coach Xia Xuanze , Coach Zhang Ning as well as Cai Yun, Xu Chen, Wang Zhengming and others went on an invited tour of the Li Ning Research and Development Center for badminton equipment.To cut the long story short, I’d just go straight to the part which should interest many of us a lot, that is the types of Li Ning racquets being used by some of the CHN national players, namely, as follows:N7 by Cai Yun;N9 by Fu Haifeng;N80 by Chen Long and Xu Chen;N90-III by WangZhengming;N55-III by Zhang Nan;N50-III by Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan and Zhao Yuneli.
Which is a very significant omission for a very good reason which we all shall understand in the near future. ...
She wants to rip her shirt off......when she wins the World Championship......if she was a boy. Google humour again: https://translate.google.com/transl...ts.sina.com.cn/o/2014-06-06/15397196745.shtml Is she WC material? You be the judge. Her game starts at around 2:20 [video=youtube;5qdNG5P9MxM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qdNG5P9MxM&index=2&list=PLA7ZcagI0frAxQJq krJaxt7lj8oYZf4Ww[/video]
Thanks, RedShuttle. Jia Yifan, and the guy is Zheng Siwei ? IMO, in fact the Chinese junior players, particularly in WDs, are directly or indirectly competing fiercely among themselves for a place in the world stage, and not a few potential WC material actually fell by the wayside as a result, a common phenomenon for them. Yup, we can always count on Google translate to provide us side-splitting laughter, stress relieving, tension releasing, even therapeutic effect.
