With the Chinese media lambasting China WS's now, i'm pretty sure LYB is trying his best to employ the best coaches possible to get WS back to winning shape.
I agree. LYB said quite openly that after the 2012 OLY, the goal was not to win everything anymore. Zhang Ning having a baby, it is not suitable for her to be head coach. Moreover, I wonder if her divorce with a member of the staff made her presence full time uneasy. Just speculating. Nevertheless, I feel that CJ's own style of play might influence his work as a coach, making the girls less creative and agressive.
We are now about half way through the Olympic qualification year. Four more major PSS events from now until the end of the qualification cycle in early May 2016. These four are: 1. China Open 2015 2. SS Finals 2015 3. All England 2016 4. Malaysia 2016 The current rankings of the four Chinese WS players are: 5. WSX 6. LXR 7. WYH 11. Sun Yu After a year of hibernation, it seems LXR has started her journey to the top a bit early for this current cycle as she has just won her first title in 12 months. Isn't it a bit too early for LXR to peak? Is this the beginning of the end of the Chinese doldrums? What is Chen Jin's game plan?
Li Xuerui isn't exactly peaking, one superb tournament victory after months of struggle is not enough to prove that. To me, it merely indicates LXR is on the comeback trail. Whether her comeback is for the long haul or short-lived remains to be seen. Nevertheless, it's incredible how she managed to do it so soon after her WC'15 debacle in August, the worst in her career. But I realistically think it's too early to say she has resolved her weak mentality issue that's been bugging her for years. Let's wait a little longer to see how it goes for her as well as for the rest of the CHN WS elite team. Frankly, I'm more disappointed with Sun Yu at the moment, more or less I'm writing off her chances for the Rio Olympic cycle, specifically after seeing how she was seen off by Sung JH and Marin in their most recent encounters. Apparently, Sun Yu still has a lot of work to do to realize her full potential before she can take on the top echelon players. On the other hand I'm heartened by WYH,esp the way she handled Yui Hashinoto at the DEN Open PSS, calm,patient, self-assured, very much in control, and using her brains more, not just her brawn to win comprehensively. Unfortunately in the semifinal with Sindhu she failed to reproduce the same form but showed signs of it when she fought back in G2 to 19-all before making two easy mistakes to hand over the match. Perhaps she is transitioning to a new game and hasn't fully tied up the loose ends. As for WSX, she has been the best performing CHN WS during their doldrums although she has yet to win a single title thus far this year. But there are positive signs of development in her game and it showed in some of her recent results, notably her triumph over Marin at the JPN Open'15 QFs. As of now, I should expect the road to Rio to be contested among the trio of Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, not necessarily in that order.
Li Yongbo has spoken http://sports.sina.com.cn/others/badmin/2015-10-20/doc-ifxivscc0215639.shtml : Olympic Men's Singles Still Chen Long and Lin Dan, Women's Singles Not To Be Taken as Declining. On Team China's Olympic quest, he's just made known that for MS selection, Chen Long and Lin Dan are as good as confirmed, Wang Zhengming and Tian Houwei are not without any chances but not high. [Practically what most of us would have guessed by now. - Justin] For WS, he will be choosing two from among the trio of Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian. [Sun Yu is assumed out of the running and selecting two from the three aforementioned is what I've guessed rightly - Justin]. As for WD, he has five pairs/combinations in mind to select the two he believes are the strongest but refused to reveal their names at this time. [My suspicion is one pair will include Zhao Yunlei, most probably with Tian Qing, while the other is Tang Yuanting, probably with either Ma Jin or Yu Yang, mainly because TYT whom he has been heaping praises on lately is relatively young and not experienced enough, therefore her partner should be someone older and much more experienced to complement her. This is just my conjecture, LYB is not saying anything,no names mentioned, not even a hint. - Justin] As for MD and XD, he avoided saying anything.[I supposed for MD it's understandable, nothing is clear as it's still CHN's weakest link. As for XD, there is, I believe, seemingly no way to skip mentioning their natural choice, ace pair Zhang Nan/Zhao Yunlei, so my guess is that he is still undecided about Zhang Nan playing both XD and MD for Rio'16, therefore for him to affirm ZN/ZYL for XD selection without mentioning anything about ZN's chances in MD would be premature or send the unintended message whilst the option is still open for ZN to compete in the two said disciplines he has been vying hard for. - Justin]
Sun Yu's lost against Marin in Denmark was the last straw. Had Sun Yu won against Marin, LYB wouldn't have ruled her out at this stage.
Wang yihan met sindhu in QF not SF. And also, Yui Hashimoto is not sindhu. And i just now saw the match of sindhu with yihan, Sindhu after leading most of the time in that match , unnecessarily did several mistakes making yihan to come back. Unfortunately, Sindhu failed to reproduce the same form in the finals. Let us see, how it goes in the coming tournaments.
Sun Yu was also outplayed by Sung JH at the KOR Open prior to her defeat to Marin, just as badly. I think it's how she played and lost than the two results itself that is disappointing. I think it's better for her to work harder on improving her game and maturing as a player, and set her sights on Tokyo 2020 instead.
Right, QF, not SF, thanks for the correction, doesn't change my point of view though. Don't underestimate Yui Hashimoto, she isn't necessarily an easier opponent than Sindhu for anybody. We know what she is capable of, like Sindhu, she has beaten WYH and CM recently. Besides, I feel that one impressive result by Sindhu doesn't prove she is suddenly better than most others, still too early to say; remember, consistency is key.
Yui beating so and so in normal tournaments is something when compared beating top players in big events. So, sindhu definitely has something to say than yui (world championships) . And yes, consistency is the key. But my explaination was about the match . Thanks
Looking at this year's results up till now, i think LXR and WYH still stand a better chance going to RIO given their experiences and achievements, though i have to say that WYH will be turning 28 next year and you can see quite a significant drop in her speed and stamina over the past 2 years but she still plays a beautiful attacking game! LXR is definitely a shoo-in, when she's in the zone, she's simply flawless but ultimately it depends on her mental conditioning and toughness and of course free from any injuries that's plagued her almost the entire 2015, the way she ripped up Sindhu's game in the Denmark Open final shows that she still has what it takes to beat the top players.
The worst time to have any injuries, even small ones that can affect a player's physical condition and form. Hope WSX is all right. She had already missed out on the London Olympics, to miss out on the Rio'16 Olympics when she is on top of her game due to an injury at an unpropitious moment is most unfortunate and heartbreaking.
I think results won't be out so fast. Probably mid or end of this week we may hear more about Wang Shixian's condition. Hopefully everything is all right for her.
I agree PVS did well to grab another Macau open and finals of Den PSS.. But that surely doesn't mean she can be counted among elites now.. But Yui Hashimoto was a flash fire to me of course she looked rambunctiously vibrant in Ina PSS but that tenacity seems to fade away sooner than later.. NO is looking even brighter let's see how well can she maintain this fire.. Rio is still far!!
Really I dont know,why you guys are comparing with CM.....she is just like mirrage water.....she cant even defend her title anymore......this is bet for everyone here......surely LXR and 2 Wang ll bounce back......rest like japan,thai,korea and india ll join with China......but marin ll go out of 10 rank before May.....just wait and see.......
The two best chance for gold in CHN team are LXR and WHY. But because of differences in types of play and players beaten by, I feel that LXR and WSX might be a better combo.
WYH is heavily strapped as evidenced in Dubai Finals 2015. [video=youtube;LSOJCM7yAHM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSOJCM7yAHM[/video] Five more months to go until end of Olympic qualification. Can she make it? Which two players will LYB choose? This is very tough. PS I hope there is peace in the Persian Gulf.
the big 3 china ws players will be 7 months older in rio, and on the latter side of their careers. on the technical side it means they are not getting faster. but the game is. i would send wsx & whoever is healthier, lxr or wyh. of the chinese ws players wsx has the best recent record against marin. okuhara looks unbeatable right now. the fastest, and she's healthy. marin is also fast and healthy. if she keeps her head on straight she's the 2nd favorite.