Which Chinese WS players will go to Olympics?

[Justin L]

One last update from me on the sohu.com poll just to confirm that's what the mainland Chinese fans think who will win the WS gold at the London Olympics: So far,out of 1029 pollsters, LXR 442 (42.95%) votes, WYH 341 (33.14%), WX 150 (14.58%), Others 96 (9.33%).

I myself think WYH is the top contender, that poll outcome takes me by surprise albeit not completely.

[kelana]

The ultimate suspense of the badminton's female player is revealed: Li Xuerui tops Wang Shixian to enter the Olympic Games


Sina sports - 2012-07-09 20:16
http://2012.sina.com.cn/cn/bd/2012-07-09/20169356.shtml


Beijing time July 9 evening, China's national badminton squad in London's Olympic official list announced, the high-profile women's singles for the suspense is announced, Li Xuerui catches the last train to the Olympic Games, Wang Shixian is regretly missed out.

According to the rules of the Olympic Games, each country up to only three players to participate in the Olympic badminton women's singles competition, Chinese team powered by Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, Li Xuerui and Wang Shixian, occupying the world's top four, they will have one player missed the Olympic Games, competition is very fierce. The experience rich, Wang Yihan, Wang Xin who is recently showing stability, are selected with no doubt, leaving out Wang Shixian and the high-profile competitive, Li Xuerui.

Teenager Li Xuerui rocketing speeds of the season to be regarded as rare, since the Uber Cup Asian qualifiers, Li Xuerui did not suffer losing the match, in three months she won 30 matches in a streak, swept the German Open, the All England, Asia Championship, the champion of the India Open. In one critical match of the Uber Cup finals, Wang Shixian unexpectedly lost one game to cede the initiative of the seat contention for Olympic Games to Li Xuerui, and Li Xuerui seized the opportunity to again prove herself in the team competition.

At Indonesia Super Series final last month, although Li Xue Rui lost to rival Saina Nehwal in final, but Wang Shixian had an early exit, wasting the last chance to be selected.

Although Li Xuerui has the least experience among the four Golden Flower, but since 2011, her achievements in competition abroad are second only to the Wang Yihan, this year she only experiences two losses in competition abroad; meanwhile Wang Shixian since 2011 has been failed eleven times in exchange with foreign players, it has become the factors that ultimately determine the fate of both sides.

On July 4 Malaysian media first broke the news, cited some source in a badminton association, said that according to the nominated player's namelist handed over to the BWF for London Olympic Games, the third player of the Chinese badminton women's singles belongs to the singles champion of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Wang Shixian, but then Li Yongbo, the head coach gave the rumor that what the Malaysian media said was not true, the final list will be announced on July 9.

On the evening of July 9, former member of the national badminton team, Gong Weijie, first revealed on the microblogging, the Chinese badminton women's singles Olympic seat eventually goes to Li Xuerui, Wang Shixian regretly missed the selection. The sudden emergence of the Li Xuerui's excellent results against foreign opponents ultimately beats the poor results of Wang Shixian. Li Xuerui, the dark horse, will she also continue her miracle achievement in the Olympic Games?


-a loose translation-

http://fanyi.youdao.com ~~ http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

[Justin L]

The ultimate suspense of the badminton's female player is revealed: Li Xuerui tops Wang Shixian to enter the Olympic Games


Sina sports - 2012-07-09 20:16
http://2012.sina.com.cn/cn/bd/2012-07-09/20169356.shtml


Beijing time July 9 evening, China's national badminton squad in London's Olympic official list announced, the high-profile women's singles for the suspense is announced, Li Xuerui catches the last train to the Olympic Games, Wang Shixian is regretly missed out.

According to the rules of the Olympic Games, each country up to only three players to participate in the Olympic badminton women's singles competition, Chinese team powered by Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, Li Xuerui and Wang Shixian, occupying the world's top four, they will have one player missed the Olympic Games, competition is very fierce. The experience rich, Wang Yihan, Wang Xin who is recently showing stability, are selected with no doubt, leaving out Wang Shixian and the high-profile com0etitive, Li Xuerui.

Teenager Li Xuerui rocketing speeds of the season to be regarded as rare, since the Uber Cup Asian qualifiers, Li Xue Rui did not suffer losing the match, in three months she won 30 matches in a streak, swept the German Open, the All England, Asia Championship, the champion of the India Open. In one critical match of the Uber Cup finals, Wang Shixian unexpectedly lost one game to cede the initiative of the seat contention for Olympic Games to Li Xuerui, and Li Xuerui seized the opportunity to again prove herself in the team competition.

At Indonesia Super Series final last month, although Li Xue Rui lost to rival Saina Nehwal in final, but Wang Shixian had an early exit, wasting the last chance to be selected.

Although Li Xuerui has the least experience among the four Golden Flower, but since 2011, her achievements in competition abroad are%2psecond only to the Wang Yihan, this year she only experiences two losses in competition abroad; meanwhile Wang Shixian since 2011 has been failed eleven times in exchange with foreign players, it has become the factors that ultimately determine the fate of both sides.

On July 4 Malaysian media first broke the news, cited some source in a badminton association, said that according to the nominated player's namelist handed over to the BWF for London Olympic Games, the t(ird player of the Chinese badminton women's singles belongs to the singles champion of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, Wang Shixian, but then Li Yongbo, the head coach gave the rumor that what the Malaysian media said was not true, the final list will be announced on July 9.

On the evening of July 9, former member of the national badminton team, Gong Weijie, first revealed on the microblogging, the Chinese badminton women's singles Olympic seat eventually goes to Li Xuerui, Wang Shixian regretly missed the selection. The sudden emergence of the Li Xuerui's excellent results against foreign opponents%2pultimately beats the poor results of Wang Shixian. Li Xuerui, the dark horse, will she also continue her miracle achievement in the Olympic Games?


-a loose translation-

http://fanyi.youdao.com ~~ http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

Thanks,many non-Mandarin readers will appreciate it except that google translate...well, but the above not bad.

[kwun]

the translation is not bad. it mostly make sense.

[Justin L]

the translation is not bad. it mostly make sense.

Yea, I think google translate for Chinese to English passable but say from Russian to English, horrible.

[SolsticeOfLight]

Thinking about who will get Gold is not the same as thinking about who would win gold if there were no CBA. Most likely the coaching team will make the choice of who gets to play for what if and when they meet each other (semi-finals / final). I don't believe they will play 'fairly' if a medal is at stake.
You might even see (what CBA considers) the strongest having to play for bronze if gold + silver are already guaranteed.

My personal opinion.

[ctjcad]

LXR's chances to aid her compatriots, if that's her main task, will depend on how loosey-goosey she plays; IOW, if she plays w/out pressure, she'll clear the path for either WX or WYH...It will be up to WX and WYH to play loosey-goosey & w/out pressure themselves as one of them will be on an island all the way through to the Final Rd...All 3 are 1st timers to the OG..

[Zhierl]

WSX should train harder and focus on the next event: The World Championship held in the same venue where she won the Asian Games gold.
I am sure CBA will give her some compensation or something. Well we will never know.

It a must ...

IMO the gold winner is LXR if LYB not intervene, but i doubt that, so WYH the gold medalist. WX will back home after QF or if lucky enough SF, Final? unlikely ...
Saina will not repeat her IO results, that only one time luck.

If WX still selected at her age, so WSX have opportunity in Rio.
At that time i don't see WX still play or still at big 4. If WSX can manage at least her standard playing or even raise it (i believe this coz' she clearly obsessed for Rio now), Rio is guarantee for her (CBA/LYB has debt to her).
Other Chinese player have no LXR determination to overthrow big 3 in 4/5/6 tourney at 2016

But still i don't understand why WSX? Why not WX?
If WSX H2H record to non-Chinese is prime factor, WX hast that record too recently ...
Every player have bad periode, WYH too, but she lucky that year not Olympic year, oherwise WSX has bad luck, her stagnan game came in Olympic year and bad to worse for her that year too came a meteor usurper.

Hope her moral not destroyed after this drama and not affect her game ..
I hope WSX still loyal to her country and not decide to leave for HK or elsewhere or even retire.

Blame BWF for that stupid rule, that make difference positive effect if more stick rule applied.

Wish good luck for all three flower (and the fourth too) ...

[repentedboy]

In the end, the h2h against foreign opponents matters too much for the Chinese. It cant be help but to bring back the same story in the 2008 selection of the three chinese players to play in Beijing which remains a mystery unsolved till today.

Why did LYB appoint Zhang Ning of all people rather than Zhu Lin who was ranked higher than her and Jiang Yanjiao who was seen as an emerging force to be reckoned with ? Her performance in 2008 was quite bad; she didnt do well in the All England; eliminated in the first round in both Malaysia and Korea Open while Lu Lan, Xie Xing Fang, Zhu Lin and Jiang Yanjiao had a slight edge over her. Furthermore she is 32 years old, what kind of edge does she have over these four compatriots even though she has a wealth of experience ?

Rumours have it that LYB was pissed with Zhu Lin's attitude for being too eager to rush him to select for the Olympics, thus causing her own demise. Another one was the fact LYB was way to overconfident that Xie Xingfang is good enough to clinch the gold medal for China given her form at that time and she was Number 1 seeded (same case as Wang Yihan today), so it's not a big loss to China if they try to gamble with Zhang Ning since their game plan is Lu Lan and Xie Xing fang to win it. Medal would be considered bonus for Zhang Ning. Till today, the selection of Zhang Ning though was worth the gamble because she won gold but still controversial on the basis of how LYB decided in the end to pick Zhang Ning. If he based it on gut feelings, that is really unfair to the players like Zhu Lin and Jiang Yanjiao who were younger and actually produced better than Zhang Ning prior to the tournament.

Now having said THAT, fast forward to this current year, the same situation happens again. True it's a close one between LXR and WSX. LXR definitely has the edge over WSX based on form and h2h. But you forgot one thing; LXR is untested in big occasions. It's not her first Olympic tournament but her first major tournament. The risk is there but fine it's the one China is willing to take and the fans would be pleased to see how LXR take the stage by storm which it's good. The thing is why CBA judge and doubt WSX based on her h2h record and let WX off the hook just because she had beautiful h2h just against ONE player.

WX is in the same case as Zhang Ning four years. The fact remains: She did not produced any good results since January; getting knocked out in the early rounds by different players and the only tournament she truly excelled in was in Uber Cup, a team event when she managed to beat a group of second stringers. Is h2h really that important to CBA until they completely overlooked the actual form the player herself.

The pressure is truly rested on not only LXR to perform in order to justify her selection and also on WX; WX has to prove that she is worth the selection because she has good h2h record against most foreign players. In summary, the selection verdict is controversial at the end of the day just like four years ago in Beijing. Only time will tell whether LYB really weighed his options and does not jump to the conclusions based on his gut feelings and h2h.

To me, h2h record is the most unreliable metric. It can turn against the players on that particular day.

[madbad]

One last update from me on the sohu.com poll just to confirm that's what the mainland Chinese fans think who will win the WS gold at the London Olympics: So far,out of 1029 pollsters, LXR 442 (42.95%) votes, WYH 341 (33.14%), WX 150 (14.58%), Others 96 (9.33%).

I myself think WYH is the top contender, that poll outcome takes me by surprise albeit not completely.

Well if LXR doesn't win gold, she'd be an ideal scapegoat for those who voted above. While there's a chance it might happen, I believe it's highly unlikely and it's totally unfair for such expectations to be heaped upon LXR. I think LYB has it under control and expect to see LXR play freely but understand what the CBA game plan is. If anything WX is under the most pressure and could falter. I expect WYH to go all the way.

[repentedboy]

WX to be the first one to choke. My 2 cents.

Either she reaches the gold medal match or chokes in the round 16 or possibly the group stage. That's it from me

[RedShuttle]

repentedboy, I give your credit for a thoughtful piece. But you are totally off base.

While there is no question that ZN received preferential treatment for the Beijing Olympics selection, her gold medal speaks for itself. XXF was a lock for one spot and LL clearly outperformed ZL and JYJ before the Beijing Olympics. Like it or not, the selections were spot-on for the Beijing Olympics.

The blemish at IO aside, LXR is the hottest player, in any discipline, at the moment. She also performed well over an extended period, not merely an overnight success. Being ranked #4 for Olympic qualification and #3 right now, she is fully qualified to play at the Olympics, by any standard. In comparison, WSX has not shown the determination to win the confidence of the decision makers.

H2H against foreign players is surely an important factor. Even without looking at that, WYH is a lock. LXR is the hottest player. Compared to a year ago, WX is on the down slope but did show the trade-mark fighting spirit at the Uber Cup. Even if WSX is judged to be technically better than WX, from a team perspective, WX is a better fit just for her fighting spirit.

Having said the above, WSX is also fully qualified to play at the Olympics. It is just unfortunately that someone has to be left out. Should LXR be left out, a case can also be made for grave injustice. Should WX be left out, people would ask how World #2 is not good enough to play at the Olympics.

Now, I am totally for setting out hard criteria and let the players decide the selection on court. However, after all said and done, these selections are sensible. While I may make different choices myself, I don't see any thing crazy here.

[repentedboy]

repentedboy, I give your credit for a thoughtful piece. But you are totally off base.

While there is no question that ZN received preferential treatment for the Beijing Olympics selection, her gold medal speaks for itself. XXF was a lock for one spot and LL clearly outperformed ZL and JYJ before the Beijing Olympics. Like it or not, the selections were spot-on for the Beijing Olympics.

The blemish at IO aside, LXR is the hottest player, in any discipline, at the moment. She also performed well over an extended period, not merely an overnight success. Being ranked #4 for Olympic qualification and #3 right now, she is fully qualified to play at the Olympics, by any standard. In comparison, WSX has not shown the determination to win the confidence of the decision makers.

H2H against foreign players is surely an important factor. Even without looking at that, WYH is a lock. LXR is the hottest player. Compared to a year ago, WX is on the down slope but did show the trade-mark fighting spirit at the Uber Cup. Even if WSX is judged to be technically better than WX, from a team perspective, WX is a better fit just for her fighting spirit.

Having said the above, WSX is also fully qualified to play at the Olympics. It is just unfortunately that someone has to be left out. Should LXR be left out, a case can also be made for grave injustice. Should WX be left out, people would ask how World #2 is not good enough to play at the Olympics.

Now, I am totally for setting out hard criteria and let the players decide the selection on court. However, after all said and done, these selections are sensible. While I may make different choices myself, I don't see any thing crazy here.

Nothing against the decision making process and accepted it. But why the verdict is simply based on the fact the player having a poor h2h record against foreign players ? h2h record is one of the most misleading factor to be used as a measure of the chances of winning against an opponent. You will never know what happens on that particularly day.

On that bold part, I must say if WX is to get left out, to some extent it's justifiable because she has not ONCE AGAIN i repeat produce any good results in individual competition and in fact her performance was very disappointing compared to the other three.

If you are to ignore these record she had for the last six months, how sure are you that she will play better on that occasion ? Of course we will never know but to find out on the day itself but she is not Zhang Ning who could promise us a shocking performance in Beijing as a 32 year old veteran.

The thing that baffles me about this tough decision making is that why just compare between WSX and LXR in the dillema. I sincerely respect the decision but WX's poor run in individual tournaments this year is something simply ignored by the CBA (on the surface). It seems everything revolves around WSX's inability to hold her ground against foreign opponents and the inexperienced LXR which complicates the whole process which is perceived to be quite a short-sight from the CBA side dont you think ?

I feel like WX's poor run this year is overlooked by her outstanding h2h record against a certain player and the record speaks for itself, on paper it's not guaranteed she could go far and the first to choke before WYH and LXR. Despite that record, how sure is CBA she would play well on that day. That's just purely speculation.

Results wise, WX should not go instead of WSX. H2H wise, WSX spot on. But it seems CBA did not take into account the recent performance and results of the players but simply just based their decisions on h2h records which will tip the scale of their campaign in London later.

[kenjai7373]

easy decision. wang shixian's form has dropped significantly even without h2h records. she wouldnt have any impact by selecting her. so it was a good decision regardless how the end result will be.

[RedShuttle]

repentedboy, I am not sure if I follow your logic.


You said that H2H against foreign players played too big of a role. But WX is World #2, despite of her faltering record against foreign players lately. Based on objective criteria alone, it's her ranking, not her H2H, that is giving her the edge. As I said, I think her selection is mostly based on her fighting spirit, given that there are two other skillful players already in the mix.

[ctjcad]

...
If WX still selected at her age, so WSX have opportunity in Rio.
At that time i don't see WX still play or still at big 4. If WSX can manage at least her standard playing or even raise it (i believe this coz' she clearly obsessed for Rio now), Rio is guarantee for her (CBA/LYB has debt to her).
Other Chinese player have no LXR determination to overthrow big 3 in 4/5/6 tourney at 2016
...

..that's certainly plausible and an interesting scenario.
On the other hand, there's a minute chance BWF could change the qualification process for the next OG. Who knows, BWF might only limit each country to only having 2 max. representations..

...Results wise, WX should not go instead of WSX. H2H wise, WSX spot on. But it seems CBA did not take into account the recent performance and results of the players but simply just based their decisions on h2h records which will tip the scale of their campaign in London later.

imo & my own feeling, the decision to choose WX was based on results as well as H2H. If i recall all the way back to the beginning of the OG qualification period (mid of last yr), WX won the 2011 S'pore Open, the 1st individual tourney after the SC & also the 1st eligible individual tourney for the 2012 OG qualification period. On the other hand, WSX came up short in that tourney.
True, if i recall correct, WX has had more earlier round losses than WSX (as seen below). But overall, if i recall correct, WX has 1 more victory and 1 more runner-up finish than WSX.
At the end, the total WR pts for both speak for themselves.

One last thing to consider, supposed if you're in LYB's pair of slippers, which one of the 2 ladies would you feel more comfortable throwing out there into the fire? if i'm in LYB's pair of Crocs, i would choose WX based on her past performance and just her certain poise..

Below are the results for both WX and WSX (in the last 1 yr) for comparison; it's missing the 2011 S'pore & Indonesian Opens results..

[Justin L]

I believe what saved Wang Xin,her redemption,was her Uber Cup performance which was the most outstanding throughout the whole tournament,even better than WYH. This must have tipped the balance in her favour over WSX as LYB has made clear that their UC performance would be one of the deciding factors.

And we know,the OG is treated as the major team championship - all for country - just like the Uber Cup, so whoever has demonstrated their ability to perform on such a big occasion has a huge plus point.