I've a feeling we're going to see a new Wang Yihan this year. End last year she gave us a glimpse of what she's capable of, particular at the Dubai SSF, esp in the final match with Nozomi Okuhara. Once she's ironed out her shortcomings which I, humbly, see as her fitness and stamina issue, specifically strengthens her abdominal,lower back and thigh muscles, she will be in top form and reach another peak in her career. Yes, the All England next week should give us an inkling of what we can expect from her in the Olympic year. She may appear past her prime the last couple of years, but CBA is unlikely to keep such a waning player for so long in the National 1st Team. In other words, the coaches and trainers still see much potential in her. Hoped they've all worked it our for her just right this time, as it might make or break her career, i.e. cut it short, come Rio '16. Bear in mind, she's 28 years old already, at an age when most Chinese players are due for retirement. Though her mentor, Zhang Ning, is truly exceptional, a late bloomer who won her second Olympic gold at age 33 in 2008 Beijing, I really don't expect her or anyone else, esp in the current crop of CHN WS, capable of following her footsteps, not in the near future at least. In fact, for this Rio Olympic cycle, Li Yongbo finds himself in an unusual fix - first, having to deal with the rest of the world catching up and facing a number of serious threats, eg Nozomi, Marin, just to name two most prominent ones; and second, having to select two out of three from the same batch as the previous Olympic cycle, where normally there would be new blood to take their place and choose from, but not this time round. As we know, CBA sensing a pending crisis in WS is urgently intensifying their effort in their renewal process. Sun Yu is the only one from the next-in-line cohort to show promise but her progress is, unfortunately, not quite up to the mark yet, resulting in the conspicuous gap of Team CHN having no capable successors to the existing trio of LXR-WYH-WSX. China's WS hope now lies more in the even younger cohort of whom the most promising are, at the moment, He Bingjiao, Chen Yufei, just to name two who have achieved some noticeable results. On another note, if CBA is not careful, their MS might soon face a similar tricky situation as their WS immediately after the Rio Olympics as Lin Dan finally, as widely expected, hangs up his racquet, and their ace superstar, Chen Long, now age 27, reaches his prime whilst in the horizon, I don't see anyone yet in the younger cohort capable of taking up the mantle. Sad to say, Tian Houwei, Wang Zhengming, Qiao Bin, Guo Kai, etc, have been disappointing, and the younger Shi Yuqi, Lin Guipu, just to name two, are not too impressive either, not yet.There seem to be a gaping hole in CHN MS after Lin Dan and Chen Long, apparently.
If Wang Yihan somewhat unexpectedly, as I hope, rises up now, then Li Yongbo will soon , indeed, be facing a difficult choice,possibly a dilemma - perhaps a luxury viewed from another angle - in who among the trio to select for Rio'16. In that case, I'd personally be most concerned for Wang Shixian who might just suffer another blow in missing out on the Olympics once again. I guess I don't have to spell out the reasons why. Let's wait and see.
As renbo quite clearly said: "If you take out 2015, which was a bad year for WYH" So why do you bother posting all her bad results from 2015? Wang Yihan has had a couple of bad years for her standards, due to physical form, but her form is quite clearly on the rise. Anyone who has an understanding of badminton could see that in the Dubai Super series finals. The final against Okuhara was an excellent quality match. A treat for the eye. Wang Yihan's form is definitely going up just in time for Rio. And in Rio, that's where it all matters. Of course, she needs to qualify first.
Does WSX have the better H2H record against foreign players than WYH and LXR since the start of the Olympic qualification period???
IMHO, among the CHN trio, WSX has the strongest mentality - she proved it when she made a great comeback from the doldrums after London 2012 and in recent years. It's just that her minimalist style of play accumulating small advantages and then letting the opponent off for lack of a killer weapon,specifically the smash, to finish it off decisively that's holding her back from reaching the top. To be frank, none of the CHN WS is really cool,calm and collected, mentally tough, in the best sense of the words. I can only say WSX comes closest to it. This happens to be the very characteristic that Li Xuerui needed the most to realize her potential to the fullest extent. If, and I've a feeling, all three of the 'Golden Flowers' as they are called in China rise to their peak levels going into the Olympic selection time, Li Yongbo will be having a big headache for sure - how to select two such that the one who is not selected feels justified and willing to accept it as well as comes to terms with the decision made. Li Yongbo has long made it clear that his selection criteria are not only based on world ranking but, equally important, their respective H2H against their foreign competitors and also their latest individual form and overall condition, including their perceived drive,ambition, state of mind, motivation, hunger to win, self-confidence, inner belief; in other words, a mix of objective and subjective factors, the former easy and straightforward to justify, the latter , on the contrary, a matter of personal opinion, judgement and preference, perhaps even arbitrary,thus requiring a lot of convincing to do,certainly never an easy task for any decision maker.
To be relevant, that will have to wait until after the cut-off date on May 1st or, more likely, closer to the time when Li Yongbo has to submit his selected candidates to BWF/IOC.
I think it would be difficult for LYB not to send the two best ranked WS. For the 2012 OLY, not respecting the ranking was understandable, because LXR was just too good. But this year the three girls are not far apart.
What if LXR starts her winning streak like what she did in 2012? That will leave WYH and WSX to fight for the remaining spot.
I think they will, because LXR will be in the front in the rankings anyway. The fight is for spot number 2
Yup, WYH losing so badly, instead of a tight match, to NO was a letdown, she isn't doing herself any favours. I believe WSX has now overtaken WYH not only in rankings but also gaining the trust and confidence of their coaches, at least for the time being.
WYH played very well against Saina. Too bad she was not as good in the final. Her footwork has developed over a period of about 20 years. Coming from the same traininggrounds, I think it makes sense that they would have similar looking footwork.
LXR and WYH used to have very different footwork, Yihan having large steps and LXR doing quick small steps.
He Bing Jiao beat WYH in 2 sets in Swiss Open final. Looking at HBJ total pts and games played to date, plus HBJ registered to play in Indo and SIN open, I believe HBJ will climb to top 16 for Olympics Rio. If China has 5 players in top 16 (same as Japan), is it up to China (and Japan) to decide who to send to Rio?
That's not Tang Xinfu. Forgot his name, but he has been the WS coach since the 90's. He was there when China first won back the Uber Cup in 1996 w/ Gong Zhichao!
