Thanks for your translation. If HKG and CHN are to be considered as one team, that would have very serious consequences from the perspectives of BWF and IOC.
The MOU signed is for the national and HK teams to train together as one team, not take part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as a unified team under one flag, the PRC's. The arrangement as I see it benefits HK more than Mainland China, it is probably more of a goodwill gesture on the latter's part.
...or it could be part of a long term plan for a single flag in paris 2024 or los angeles 2028. in ioc terms why is an sar of a country allowed to be separate from their 'undisputed' motherland, since it is politically recognised as 'hong kong, china' by the united nations?
Colonial Hong Kong was recognized as a separate NOC by IOC in 1951. It was still early days in the age of decolonization. (Singapore and Trinidad and Tabago were recognized in 1948.) Currently, the following dependent territories are recognized NOCs as well: - Cayman Islands, BVI, Bermuda as dependent territories of the UK, - Guam, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico as part of USA.
What happened to the chinese badminton? They are not as strong as they were few years ago and they just lost to Japan and Indonesia respectively in the asian group championship..
I do not agree the rest of the world has gotten considerably better at badminton in the past few years. When Lin Dan entered China's national team in around the year 2000, the average income in China was around 6300 yuan a year. It's now around 40000 yuan a year. Badminton is no longer as good a career option as it once was in China. Very few parents are willing to send their single child to badminton schools any more.
badminton may not be as good but the fact is that a big country like china will always be able to fulfill its need for talented players and I believe it has something more to do with the mentality of the younger players who won't put in extra efforts like their seniors to become the best and just get satisfied with so-so achievement instead. I also wonder if it is somehow related to the frugality advocated by the current chinese government under Xi Jinping. In case of the national team, the financial gains for the players such as salary, winning bonus and other incentives might be slashed significantly and they become unmotivated as a result.
Yes, I agree with everything you said. I think there are a number of factors at play: (1) London Olympics 2012 women's doubles scandal I believe it was the first time that badminton is covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Financial Times at the same time. LYB believed he has no chance of ever being promoted because of the scandal. His belief is reinforced by the promotion of Li Lingwei, who was LYB's rival. (2) GDP growth and winning gold medals are no longer the only goals Starting from 2013/2014, a lot of people have been arrested for corruption and match fixing. (3) Coaching staff issue A lot of good coaches left the women's team after London Olympics. Tang Xue Hwa retired from coaching women's singles and Pan Li temporarily left women's doubles. Chen Jin who had minimal coaching experience became head coach of women's singles in Jan 2014. He quietly left in the middle of 2017 immediately after LYB had retired. I don't remember who was head coach of women's doubles in China after Pan Li left. (4) Transitioning problem Yu Yang was not willing to retire after 2012, hogging a valuable spot. WYH and WSX retired from the national team within a few months of each other, while LXR's career unexpectedly halted at around the same time. (5) China's economic rise Badminton is no longer as good a career option as it once was in China. I agree with everything Fery said. (6) BWF's containment policy After 2008 Beijing Olympics, BWF started its containment policy (aka anti-trust enforcement). BWF reduces quotas in doubles and then singles. In the near future, coaches will not be allowed on court. All these measures have one target in mind--the incumbent dominant country.
It is always a problem on crisis identity if you ask me The Chinese youngsters are not seeing badminton as sort of a big goal in life, but merely a side hobby/job that they will leave after some times (for many) A lot of things can be discussed, including the previous generation success which kinda make the occasion for winning a gold medal became meaningless. The country take the badminton team's achievement for granted and the youngsters don't see the achievement as 'grand' as the old generations did Of course the rise of economic also doesn't help that much either
As I 've posted before, Xia Xuanze said although China has a lot of badminton enthusiasts due to the sport's popularity but only a very small number of them are willing to consider taking it up as a profession jence CBA hasn't got a big base of potential talents to work on, unlike in the past when the economy wasn't as booming. So in a way, pcll99 is right , professional sports is no longer as attractive a prospective career as before, in addition to the vagaries a professional athlete has to face, eg short career span, low income if you don't do fairly well, alternative career opportunities after retirement very limited, risks of injury cutting short one's career, etc, and the problem is exacerbated by the fact that most of them are from one-child family, so it's perfectly understandable for their parents to be very concerned about their children's choice of career.
Its good to see that the juniors are taking part in the Dutch and German junior tournaments beginning soon The players are those that will represent China in the Asian and world junior championships this year. But I wonder what has happened to Gao Zhengge and the others who played in last year's championships. Anyone has any information? I felt that GZZ was quite a talent and was particularly interesting, and was looking forward to see him this year.
The 18-year-old Gao Zhengze will turn 19 on 29th May and therefore ineligible for the coming AJC in July and the WJC in Nov.
Thanks . I was hoping you had some updates on when we can see him play this year, as well as the other post 2017 wjc players. Maybe , hopefully the vietnam open
Interesting to note that Guo Xinwa is not playing singles in the Dutch Junior Open. Instead he is playing in the doubles. His mens doubles matches has been successful, but the test in the next round is the japanese pair who beat the top chinese doubles yesterday. The third singles is 16 year old Ren Chengming who performed well but lost to Bai Yupeng.
Indeed, I checked the results of the Dutch Junior Open and was surprised too that Guo Xinwa didn't play MS, instead only featured in XD and MD for which he emerged champion in XD partnering Liu Xuanxuan against the JPN pair. Wang Zhiyi , as expected came out on top in WS beating her Thai SF and fellow CHN Final opponents decisively though in R2 she was nearly knocked out by the MAS Qi Xuan Eoon who held two matchpoints in the decider but somehow WZY managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat grabbing four points on the trot. CHN was also successful in MD beating the IND MD finalist but came short in the other two disciplines, losing both the MS and the WD finals, the former to the THA reigning WJC MS Kunlavut Vitidsarn and latter to the MAS WD Pearly Tan/Toh.
End of the road for Tian Houwei, Lin Guipu and Song Xue? They are not in the China master participation list. Sadly, I think it’s early retirement for them. On the plus side, Li Xuerui is back.
Li Xuerui's comeback tournament at Lingsui, and she almost had to play from the qualification rounds, just made it to the main draw as the 36th WS player in the registered list. I supposed both Lin Guipu and Xue Song who suffered near career-ending injuries are still struggling to make a comeback; hope to see them do so soon, such a shame if they fade away just like that as they have the talents and are still relatively young, Lin Guipu being only 20 years old while Xue Song, 24. No idea what happened to Tian Houwei who recently did quite well in the Indian badminton league, PBL. Hope he's not injured or something. At 26 years old, born 11th Jan 1992, he should be in his prime.
China junior Zhou Meng and Li Shifeng lost in the Womens and Mens final at the German junior Tournament.. Zhou Meng is just 16 years old! Li Shifeng performed better than Bai Yupeng in this tournament. Interesting that some China juniors "captained" by Lui Haicho is taking part in the Vietnam tournament beginning 20th March. There are 4 MS juniors in this team. They 16, 17 and 19 years old. Interesting to see how they will fare.
Great to see the china juniors playing in Indonesia tomorrow. This is the second time this team has been assembled to play in the u19 tournaments. At last they are giving exposure to the junior team. Still no Gao Zhengze, not even in the Lingshui Masters. Looks like he will not be in the approved list of juniors. Sad as i felt he was quite different from the others!!
In the recent Indonesian tournament ongoing, chinas juniors are certain of gold in all the disciplines except MS. Finals to be played tomorrow 8th April. The 4 china MS lost in the early rounds. Only Li Shifeng lasted till the quarterfinals. Looks like more talent need to be uncovered for China to improve in this area. The upcoming Lingshui masters will be a chance for new talent appearing. Hopefully.
