So China has scooped all the titles in the Worlds. What does it say about rest of the world players? That they are too dominant in the sport and no is there to challenge them. If we look at some of the reasons, some members might shed more light. WS. This area the Chinese are too dominant as they don’t face any players who can challenge them. Let’s let look at the two non Chinese high ranking challengers. We have a 30 year old Dane Tine, who only competes on certain tournaments, is plagued by injury, not surprised as she is getting past her best and age is getting to her, while the cream of Chinese players are in their early 20s. Denmark has no good female players other than her but her time is up. Then we have India’s comparitably young Saina, but she had won her 3 last tournaments without facing any top Chinese players, and immediately, she became world no. 2. But that way she lost in QF was less than impressive for a world no. 2. MS. Though this area is a bit more competitive, due to China not having too many top players but only Lin & Chen. Lee Chong Wei managed to keep them at bay but again the two high ranking players; Taufik and Peter are ‘elderly’ players who are past their best but still due to their exceptional skills, they’re still able to compete at top level. Peter is 33 and his country still hasn’t produced a top player like him, wonder what would be like without him for Denmark and for the world. While Indonesia, once used to be the Badminton powerhouse, now relies on veteran Taufik, to get some tittles. WD. Well can I say about that other than they don't have any real challengers, except for odd occasions Koreans beat them but in major competitions, it’s the Chinese all the way. XD. after Nova and Thomas Laybourn, there aren’t any real challengers, both are in their early 30s! While Korea’s Lee Young Dae is injured by playing both xd and md. Can’t see him doing both in years to come, due to physical demand of both games, hence his elbow injury. MD. Thankfully this area is most competitive. While the Chinese Fu&Cai are top pairs, they’re not that dominant due Koreas Lee/Jung and Malaysians Koo&Tan. However is it’s a growing concern that Indonesians, who once dominated MD now only, have Kido/Setiwan, to compete with the best of the rest, but they’re now below par, can’t see them returning to their best in the future. While two top Danish pairs, one is retiring, the other in their late 20s, can’t really challenge the top pairs. Just my thoughts, feel free to add your own comments or views.
Badminton is a common sport, not a commercial one. Most young budding talents can not make a living out of it and tend to compete at club level as a hobby. State funding and infrastructure make a huge difference. I believe these are the reasons for the Chinese dominance. Of course, a billion strong gene poll helps.
Hard work and good preparation. There was a time in the mid-late 90's when Indonesia was the all dominant force in men's events. These things come and go.
Someone has posted in Indonesia badminton that ex-Indonesian players used to earn a lot more than common household a few decades back but it is no longer the case. Due to modernization and more ooportunities in higher education, alot of parents in Indonesia see education as a safer road to earn a living. I love to be proven wrong but I doubt Indonesia will be back to it's full glory state(in badminton). Same goes to Malaysia and UK. I predict China's decline will begin once those born in the 90's took over the flag as shown in recent WJC and AJC. But that's just my wild guess.
I believe the way the system is structured. Even if it's a big commercial sport like Tennis, look in the UK, after spending tens of millions of pounds on British Tennis, only A.Murray is a top ten player, who went to Spain for training. Apart from him there aren't any top British Tennis players. Then look at Serbia and other estern European countries, spending far less money and less population and with very basic facilities than the UK but able to produce more skilled players. The same goes for British Badminton, there is huge amount of money in British badminton coaching but no results.
It is just like Tennis or Soccer, Asian country never can beat the Euro country in the past 50 years and the next coming 10 or 20 years. . . And Asian country also dominant PingPong. . .
..more comments in this thread link below: http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...making-Badminton-as-one-of-China-s-top-sports
One thing I noticed is that Chinese players especially the female players pumped their fist and screamed out loud on every point they won even though it's sometimes their opponents's careless mistakes like serving short or to the net. I sometimes found that kind of annoying. But that also showed that they are really motivated to win every single point and they are really pumped up during the match. Kind of their strategies?
i also believe the provincial system works wonders for the chinese national team. their huge talent pool, structure of selection and progression, along with their systematic training techniques and military standards, together with perhaps an unrivalled sense of duty and nationalistic pride (made all the more intense given their incredibly successful past) are all major factors IMO. let's not forget, the chinese you see that take to the international courts are the very best of the best, of the best, of the best. I'm sure numerous CHN provincial level players are capable of challenging and beating the best players from the Major badminton nations. Making the chinese national team effectively equates to becoming the best on the planet, such is the elite standard of chn badminton.
I agree on most of posts above, just want to add, i think its also contributed by CBL that badminton in China can have the extra edge. I believe, one important way for players to improve their level is to play/train with better players. Thats exactly why traditional baddy powerhouse such as INA, DEN, KOR, MAS and CHN can somehow always produce better players than players from other part of the world. It would almost be imposible for a country like Australia to produce a future Lin Dan, simply because to become LD you must train/play againts someone like BCL on a frequent basis. Then the introduction of CBL, IMO its a very smart move by CHN BA. Its essentially a grooming venue for CHN youngsters and a chance for the to play up againts the best available, while at the same time reducing their (top players) participating on SS is effectively limiting the chance of other players from other countries to play/learn with CHN top player. In football term, its like Man Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid and other top European clubs saying they dont want to play on their league anymore and forming their own league consisting of 20 top European clubs.
To answer the OP question is very simple. Sheer numbers of the Chinese population. Plus, besides ping pong, badminton is a national sport. Put it this way, I'm pretty sure the total number of high level club players in China is greater than the whole population of Canada!
Let's put the population aside, if that's the case, India should dominate every single sports in the world. Rich, wealthy and/or powerful nations such as US, Russia will definitely be power houses. Nation like Denmark should never be in the power house converstaion at all. However, the reality is not the case at all. To me, an effective and successful structure weights a lot of more than the un-discovered "talent pool".
^^ Umm, just population size alone is not enough. Is badminton a popular sport in India or US? Is it the main national sport that is played in school and communities? It is so in China...
And btw, Danish countries eg. Sweden and Denmark have badminton as a popular national sport too... mainly because their weather is quite cold and punishing for most of the year, so indoor badminton is popular. You don't see them excelling at soccer or baseball.
Population is also an important factor, lets assume both MAS and CHN have the same quality in coaching, development, organisation quality, fund support, etc etc then CHN will be in advantage having a much larger pool of talent to work on. Therefore, although its not the single factor, population is a piece of the puzzle to complete the picture.
Before you go all out to be super analytical and talk about population comparison, your above assumptions are way way off as a start.
