haha. maybe as someone ever suggested here, they should sew LD's shirts biggest star in gold colour. in the end, congratulation to LD, CY and FHF for accomplished their 'minor mission', fulfilled 5 stars on their kit with such achievements.
So this discussion has been going on for years, but gone with the wind after 2012. From the discussion, the question still remains though: what tournaments do those 5 stars represent? Some facts that we have at the moment: Lin Dan already has 5 stars before London '12. Chen Qingchen has 1 star before Glasgow WC 2017, she joined China Uber Cup winning team at 2016. Jia Yifan has no star before Glasgow WC 2017 and she did not joing 2016 Uber Cup. Zhang Nan only has 4 stars after Glasgow even though he has won OG, WC, SC, TC (2010, play only once at group stage), AG, BAC, SSF. Chen Long only has 4 stars before Glasgow with OG, WC, TC, SC, AG (team only), BAC in his bag. All England has never been part of the star constellation.
I actually must've spend half an hour looking into this, but as of the last year's Uber Cup (2016), both Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing have 4 stars. So what is Zhao Yunlei missing?
As of Indonesia Open last year, Xu Chen and Ma Jin both have 2 stars. A little tricky since Ma Jin have won the World Championships with a different partner.
one star is a definitely for world cup. i had a discsn with die hard chinese fan on fb. doesn't matter if you have won ssf. but i can't think of anythng that zn hasn't won.
So does that mean no Chinese player in the future will ever get to 5? World Cup was discontinued in 2006, I read.
I was convinced that the 5th star was for the World Cup, and most of the evidence don't refute that. However, I found an anomaly: Wang Shixian. At the 2014 Mas Open, she had 2 stars (http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Wang+Shixian/Malaysia+Badminton+Open+Day+6/8UIzwuyK121). At the 2014 All England barely 2 months later, however, she had 3 (http://c8.alamy.com/comp/DWEDBX/bir...g-shixian-during-yonex-all-england-DWEDBX.jpg). There are no events that could have possibly earned her that 3rd star during that time. Now it might be the case that she had done something to earn that star before Jan 2014 and they simply didn't update the uniform, but I can't figure out what it is. She should have 1 for the 2012 Uber Cup and 1 for the 2011 Sudirman Cup. If it was for the Asian Games or the SSF, she had won both back in 2010 and it should already be on the shirt. She didn't win either the individual or the team event at the CNG in 2013, and winning the team event at the East Asian Games seem to be a stretch.
I think, one thing for sure is that the timing of the change of the star is sometimes inconsistent. I see this with the fact that CQC star at her shirt is still only 1 at Denmark Open last week even after she just become world champion in WD, after being part of Uber Cup winning team 2016. This make the variable becomes more difficult to properly analyse it Anyway, if the last star is really reserved by world cup, than that is a bad move to not replace it with SSF or other major tournament (even though I know that SSF is often looked at only as a year-end elite playground to have fun matches by the players)
The World Cup is now certainly an anomaly as it is discontinued since 2006, therefore, grossly unfair for those who come after as they will never be able to win a world cup. I strongly felt it ought to be replaced by something else that carries comparable weight as the other four stars, viz., Olympic gold, World Championship crown, Thomas/Uber Cup, Sudirman Cup. My humble proposal is for the Asian Games, touted as the Asian Olympics, which is particularly relevant for badminton as the majority, almost 80% of the world's top players are in Asia, practically all the world's best in every discipline. The next best choice may be the Superseries Finale at year end, my only grouse is it is limited to only the top 8 as per the SS Standings, as such the possibility of a worthy top contender being kept out due to unforeseen circumstances or personal reasons like injury layoff, taking a break after a major event, or even personal issues is not unlikely in any of the five disciplines. Another consideration is, what if a player/pair suddenly breaks out to capture 4 or 5 SS titles in a row but somehow still fail to make the cut for not having the requisite ranking points to be ranked in the top 8 of the Standing List ? How we all wish to see such a player/pair included but owing to a technically has to be excluded. I know, that can happen to the WC or OG too, but I'm talking about the SSF as the 5th Star, since the two aforementioned of higher status are already included. Besides, certain players or MAs may not care too much about the SSF as they might think most of their top players/pairs could be too tired to do well at year end and would rather take a break instead. Indeed, until now not many players/pairs regard the SSF as a highly prestigious event , not higher than any of the 5 PSS, and certainly not a major event. On the other hand, I noticed the BWF in the new tournament structure next year has elevated the year-end SSF as a Grade 1 Level 1 event, that is higher than any of the existing Superseries, in terms of prize money and ranking points awarded. So it is possible, the future SSF may become a coveted title, hence one of the much sought-after accolade. Let's wait and see.
So the last star is subjective, then? We hypothesise this from the fact that Zhang Nan, Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei have won all on their fields and have 4. Fair enough? Team events, if they actually are basis, will also apply on their 4 because being part of the team has to have no difference in being part of the selection to compete in the finals. That would be unfair. Meanwhile, Chen Long has 4 too, but hasn't won Asian Games.
Maybe by AE new (updated) shirts weren't out yet? Interesting that she has 3, so could that mean she's missing 2 for WC and OG? Could we work out the 3 in reverse?
According to the previous posts in this thread, the other 5 stars holder are Fu Haifeng, Cai Yun and Gao Ling. I also just found that Yu Yang had 5 stars during Indonesia Open 2015, on the other hand, strangely, Zhong Qianxin had 4 stars ....... By 2015, Wang Yihan has 4 stars Wang Shixian has 3 stars
Li Xuerui has had only two stars. Youngest player I know with a star is Bao Yixin with one. Also, on Wang Shixian, we could be confused because we might've counted the stars missing; that design on that uniform is a little misleading. In most of their uniforms, the whites are the unfilled ones, if you like. Anyone else notice that coaches sometime wear jackets with stars? I'm sure I've seen Pan Li on them.
Actually, the younger Tang Yuanting has one star. My bad. For the record, Yu Yang has actually only 4 stars. As of Malaysia Open last year.
Correction to my previous post: it seems that in the 2014 All England uniform that Wang Shixian was wearing, the number of stars is actually counted by the yellow ones (from the top) as opposed to the silver ones (from the bottom). As can be seen here (http://sport-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/20140413_Wang-Yihan_AFP_615.jpg), Wang Yihan has 4 stars at the 2014 Singapore Open, which incidentally also supports the World Cup theory, since 1) It doesn't make sense for WYH to only have 1 star, since she has WC (2011), UC(2012), and SC(2009,2013). Therefore the stars must be denoted by the yellow ones. 2) Since WYH is missing the Olympic games as well as the Asian games as of May 2014, her 4th star couldn't have come from those 3) WYH has won the World Cup in 2006
