You have to be TALL to be professional in China

[thiery]

I heard this piece of statement from the German coach. According to him, Xu Haiwen was dropped from the China team because she is too SHORT. :confused:

Well, all the China woman MS players are really tall. ZN, XXF, ZL, Lu Lan, Wang Yihan and Wang Lin. All tall tall de....

And all the overseas China MS players are short short. Yao Jie, Pi Hongyan and Xing Aiying.

[kwun]

yes. it is true. so what's the problem? ;)

[cooler]

yes. it is true. so what's the problem? ;)Nod. When LYB has dozen upon dozen good candiates lining up his door, he can be choosey instead of innie minie mo:D

[thiery]

yes. it is true. so what's the problem? ;)

It's unfair to the short people...:D

Malaysia and Indonesia women players are so short.

[kwun]

It's unfair to the short people...:D

Malaysia and Indonesia women players are so short.

fairness is hard to quantify.

they also don't pick people who are not talented with badminton, people who are not athletic, people who are fat, etc, is that unfair?

what is quantifiable is that China has many Olympic medalists and world champions who are tall in recent history.

having said that, INA also have made a lot of badminton history with not so tall and skinny players, Susi and Mia comes to mind.

the key is China believes that tall people give them an advantage towards winning, so that's what they prefer.

[Joe P]

Don't forget lefties. I think they specifically look for talented, tall, maybe good looking lefties don't they ;)

[cooler]

It's unfair to the short people...:D

Malaysia and Indonesia women players are so short.

joking aside, i think the china team management is very fair.

Those short WS players were allowed in the national team and given equal chance to be groomed and excel. However, if they can't beat players like xxf or zhang ning, their days are numbered. Yes, it just happened that ZN an XXF are taller. It's about performance first, not really about height. If LYB sees potential in Yao Jie, Pi Hongyan or XH, he will surely keep them. Look at zhou mi, she is tall but not in LYB's favorite list anymore. It's about performance.

LD is shorter than chen yu, BCL and chen hong. LD is the best, that's why LYB keep him and dropped taller chen hong instead.

[xavier felipe]

joking aside, i think the china team management is very fair.

Those short WS players were allowed in the national team and given equal chance to be groomed and excel. However, if they can't beat players like xxf or zhang ning, their days are numbered. Yes, it just happened that ZN an XXF are taller. It's about performance first, not really about height. If LYB sees potential in Yao Jie, Pi Hongyan or XH, he will surely keep them. Look at zhou mi, she is tall but not in LYB's favorite list anymore. It's about performance.

LD is shorter than chen yu, BCL and chen hong. LD is the best, that's why LYB keep him and dropped taller chen hong instead.

Yes, maybe there is like and dislike factor also from LYB's point of view. However, Gong Zhichao is exception, she is maybe the shortest WS in Chinese team until now.

And a bit bias, but LYB likes Zhao Tingting so much?

[bic33]

also, there is this new chinese WS players who won PO... Zhu jing jing remember? she is short...

[abedeng]

Jing Jing didn't win PO, she lost to Zhou Mi. But yes, she is not so tall.

From what I know, Chinese method for selection is quite scientific, from young they measure candidates to see how far they can grow. Also, the preference for taller players is based on Chinese traditional attacking tactics. Gong Zhichao almost didn't make the team due to her height.

Whereas other countries top players (not so tall) use different, more rallying style. Susi and Camilla Martin were quite successful against tall Chinese opposition of their time.

[bic33]

Jing Jing didn't win PO, she lost to Zhou Mi. But yes, she is not so tall.

From what I know, Chinese method for selection is quite scientific, from young they measure candidates to see how far they can grow. Also, the preference for taller players is based on Chinese traditional attacking tactics. Gong Zhichao almost didn't make the team due to her height.

Whereas other countries top players (not so tall) use different, more rallying style. Susi and Camilla Martin were quite successful against tall Chinese opposition of their time.

oh sorry... i forgot... it was the more exhausted zhou mi who won the match... haha

[thiery]

Zhu Jing Jing is older than Lu Lan and Zhu Lin and yet we havent seen much of ZJJ.....probably the next time we see her, she will be donning a t-shirt bearing Germany or France.

[Badmintan]

I happen to visit the Beijing Sports University in May 2007. I was impressed by the facilities there. There is even a walk of fame kinda like the Hollywood blvd where famous athletes put their footprints there. Surprisingly Tennis is one of the sports that China is trying to be world class. Sigh...didn't have a chance to see the Chinese Badminton team trained....

There even some western athletes who trained there to learn from the Chinese, I think Wushu...etc.

It is really impressive, China have a huge talent pool to choose from provincial schools. You will get the feeling that China is one huge machine churning out hundreds of world class athletes.

[wilfredlgf]

And a bit bias, but LYB likes Zhao Tingting so much?Because she has a cute name.

[Syaoran_Style]

I heard this piece of statement from the German coach. According to him, Xu Haiwen was dropped from the China team because she is too SHORT. :confused:

Well, all the China woman MS players are really tall. ZN, XXF, ZL, Lu Lan, Wang Yihan and Wang Lin. All tall tall de....

And all the overseas China MS players are short short. Yao Jie, Pi Hongyan and Xing Aiying.

Yao Jie is not short at all .. she's very tall lol

[maryanne]

How tall is Zhang Jawen? She seems petite on TV. Or is it just because she is always beside XZB who is so tall?!

[ants]

Zhang Yawen is short around 4 feet plus.

[koo_fan]

What is the minimum heights needed?

[maryanne]

Zhang Yawen is short around 4 feet plus.

If she is 4' +, that is pretty short by any standard. I guess the operating word here is the Chinese team PREFERS tall players, but skill still prevails, as mentioned in previous responses

[Krisna]

If she is 4' +, that is pretty short by any standard. I guess the operating word here is the Chinese team PREFERS tall players, but skill still prevails, as mentioned in previous responses

Yup! Gong Zhichao was not as tall as Zhang Ning, Xie Xinfang etc. In general taller competitors have a lot of edge. But who defeated Xie Xinfang last week? WMC! How tall is she? :p

As for INA ladies... yeah, Susi and Mia was good enough to lead INA to 2 Uber Cup wins against Ye Zhaoying, Zhang Ning, & co. in 1994 and 1996... ;)

[LazyBuddy]

If she is 4' +, that is pretty short by any standard. I guess the operating word here is the Chinese team PREFERS tall players, but skill still prevails, as mentioned in previous responses

I agree. The physical build might give someone an edge during selection, but the racket still does the talk. I can see if down to the last 2 candidates, and 1 must go home, the taller one might win out. However, if a shorter player has a much better record than the taller opponents, she still has a safe spot in the team, just look at Gong Zhichao and Zhang Yawen. ;)

[abedeng]

Zhang Yawen is short around 4 feet plus.

Are u sure? I would think she is at least 160cm. She might look shorter because her body mass is quite thin.

[thiery]

Are u sure? I would think she is at least 160cm. She might look shorter because her body mass is quite thin.

I think Yap Kim Hock is as tall as Zhang Yawen. :D

[samuel882]

IMO.. shorter players is better suit for Doubles event.. They can control the front court with their skills. where else ,playing in Singles, u needs certain height to move around all the corner with the good footwork..

[OneToughBirdie]

I think Yap Kim Hock is as tall as Zhang Yawen. :D
Minus the hair, YKH looks shorter...hehehe!!!LOL!!:D:p

[abedeng]

YKH is only about 168-170cm tall, if I'm not mistaken. Ng Boon Bee was even shorter, 165 cm I think.

I remember one INA WD player, was it Lili Tampi, who was supposedly under 5 feet tall. But Zhang Yawen surely is much taller than that.

Gong Zhichao plays quite similar to Susi Susanti's style, and had loads of stamina like Susi and Wong Mew Choo.