she had left the national team and back to her hometown last month. Not too sure what will she do next, perhaps coaching?
No wonder, so many good player in CHN team as I said... And Zhu Lin, what is she doing now? Is it right if Zhu Lin and Lu Lan are family?
Newer fans may not even have heard of Lu Lan, but she was one of most promising stars whose career ended prematurely due to injuries. The January edition of Badminton magazine paid tribute to Lu Lan with an article on Lu Lan's life after badminton (being a student and getting married): https://translate.google.com/transl...15-03-26/14497555521.shtml&edit-text=&act=url More pictures of Lu Lan at: http://slide.sports.sina.com.cn/o/slide_2_65820_79681.html#p=1 Among the highlights of her career was a crucial win in the 2008 Uber Cup quarter-finals against the Netherlands when both Xie XinFang and Jiang YanJiao unexpectedly lost. With Lu Lan's win and the supreme strength in doubles, the Chinese team survived and eventually won the Uber Cup. That win might also help Lu Lan beating out then reigning World Champion Zhu Lin for a berth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics where she had a memorable match against Wong Mew Choo: [video=youtube;QUV8yL2qWyo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUV8yL2qWyo[/video] Farewell, thanks, and good luck, Lu Lan!
I'm sure he meant Tang Xuehua, not Tang Xianhu. Btw, heartiest congratulations to Lu Lan. Wish her all the best in her future endeavours.
Lu Lan played a style that was fairly nice to watch, quite offensive and precise. Too bas her career was so short.
After watching the video posted by RedShuttle, I see Lu Lan as a better version of WSX but not as aggressive or attacking as LXR.
Not only is Lu Lan doing her master's degree at Beijing Sports University, she is also learning English well. At the same time she's doing her bit of volunteer work to promote badminton, contributing 100 racquets each to five primary schools in Changzhou during the CHN Masters GPG last year.
Lu Lan is like Wang ShiXian in Wang YiHan's body, a formidable package. Although Lu Lan does not smash often, she is certainly not a grinder. she is offensive minded with variety of shots and placements. Lu Lan is a strangler rather than a slasher, so to speak.
Lu Lan's career was not cut short due to injury. She just wasn't able to stay up there on top, it's tough pressure. Obviously a very good player but she did not have the same champion mentality of Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang. At the biggest stage of all she faltered, failing to take home the bronze medal for China in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 when she was a game up against Maria Kristin. But I saw her play in the China super badminton league for a few years more after leaving the top rankings. She had gained some weight but was still a strong player.
Lu Lan never recovered from her foot injury after winning the World Championship in 2009. After pushing herself to win the team event at the National Games in the same year, she could not even continue with the individual event. She did play more later, but that Lu Lan was no where close to the World Champion Lu Lan. The career for the World Champion Lu Lan was over. Don't forget that Lu Lan was a World Champion, beating two-time champion Xie XingFang in the final. There was no stage fright there. Lu Lan had the best attitude and mindset among the up-and-comers then. The Olympic semi-finals encounter with Xie XingFang was unfortunate. Before watching the video, I blamed Lu Lan for not strategically moving on, rather than wasting energy on a lost cause. The fact was that Xie XingFang was to blame for mysteriously throwing the first game away. With one game in hand, Lu Lan of course would go for it. The result was that both Xie XingFang and Lu Lan were too exhausted for their next matches.