this long team event is finally over. scientific speaking, Sudirman cup is more interesting than Thomas cup and Uber cup, because all 5 categories are equal. While in Thomas cup and Uber cup, the 1st single victory weights the same as the 3rd single, also the same as the 2nd double as well. That's totally unfair. But still, after all the dust down, we still don't know who's the best in the world? Team China? well badminton is not a team event. You can play yourself, or at most with just 1 partner. so we still don't know who's the best in the world? say, in women's singles. although WSX, WX WYH (3 Wangs) are occuping all top 3 in the ranking, also took away most titles in daily events. But this Sudirman cup did nothing, but confused us. Look at the facts: (< stands for lost to while > means won against) Wang SX < Schenk Wang X < Nehwal S Nehwal S < Inthanon R Inthanon > Cheng SC Schenk > Hirose E Hirose E > Firdassari A there we have these 3 lines: Inthanon > Nehwal > Wang X Schenk > Wang SX Schenk > Hirose > Firdassari ... wow! the WS performance is totally, exactly incoherent with the final standing for the Sudirman cup. The invincible Inthanon and Schenk, won directly or indirectly all the others, finally made their teams lost in the first round of the rubin round. while Hirose, she's better than Firdassari but inferior to Schenk, Hirose's team Japan, entered the elimination, but lost in the 1st round. exactly like Hirose, Newhal's team ended the same. The 2nd worst Firdassari's team got to the final 4 The worst Wangs' team was finally crowned as the champion.
ahaha... I don't think badminton rankings necessarily follow the transitive property... the problem with rankings is that all you need to do is play a ton of tournaments, and even if you don't win, you can get enough points to be rank 1. I think a good example would be lee chong wei vs. lin dan from about 2008-2010. I think lee chong wei was consistently ranked #1, but he got owned by lin dan at the olympics and owned by lin dan in several other tournaments. but I think your observations still hold true.. I could believe that schenk could beat wang shixian... and a 16 year old thai GIRL beat nehwal.. that was pretty awesome.. but it's sad when a player has one good tournament (beats the odds), but disappears after that. e.g. kenichi tago.. who had an awesome AE2010, but haven't really seen him since (still focus on lin dan and lee chong wei...)
individual level: Inthanon > Nehwal > Wang X team leve: Inthanon's team < Nehwal's team < Wang X's team individual level:Schenk > Hirose > Firdassari team leve: Schenk's team < Hirose's team < Firdassari's team By the way, Although China won the champ, but we cannot say Wang SX or Wang X are the best. Both of them lost. Further, we cannot say any one is the best, because Schenk, Inthanon, Baun,.. and more (other levels) WS have won all their matches. Same thing applied to MS and all other fields, we even don't have chance to watch Lin D vs LCW, or LD vs BCL. This kind of "team event" did nothing but confuses us.
Firstly you have to tell me what do you mean "the best"? Do you need 100% H2H/winning rate over everyone else to be the best? If so, no one on this world could be considered the best! In any sports! Why do u consider Saina is better than WX just based on this one match in SC? Do u remember how many times WX beated NS before this? Same case for WSX vs JS.
In order to answer your ill defined question, one must appeal to both numeral statistics and general consensus of the badminton "public", may it be from the perspectives of recreational players or professionals. But one statement is certainly irrefutable.... I AM THE BEST.
