Chinese Badminton

I make bold to say that in WS, both Sun Yu and He Bingjiao more or less already have what it takes to challenge any of the current top 8 or 10 players for world supremacy. At the moment, none of the WS stands out from the rest, not even Marin despite having won two WC and the OG, not anyone; there's simply no clear favourite , no dominant WS player thus far, not even Li Xuerui whom I consider the most skillful but for her lack of mental toughness, apart from injury woes.

And, if I may hasten add, it won't be long, at most a year, before Chen Yufei join the ranks of her two aforementioned compatriots to challenge the best of the best in attempting to ascend the summit.

 

While it's normal immediately after an Olympic cycle for most countries/MAs to undergo a renewal process, partially if not fully, this time round CBA messed up big time, caught off guard by the sudden departure of many of their top elite players/pairs in almost all disciplines.

This is so evident,so revealing and telling, in the just-concluded Denmark Open PSS where CHN ended up with only one young up-and-coming inexperienced XD pair, Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen, in the finals and came home empty-handed.

Most of their second tier players or second stringers and backup team members, many of them young and inexperienced, find themselves abruptly thrust to the frontline not quite ready to take over the mainstays - apart from Li Xuerui who's out of action for at least six months due to injury, Chen Long taking a well-deserved break, Lin Dan on leave and on the verge of retirement, Tang Yuanting also on personal leave partly to recuperate from illness, the rest are suddenly retired, as if en masse, namely,Zhao Yunlei, Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian, Yu Yang, Tian Qing, Wang Zhengming, not to mention Tang Jinhua who inexplicably withdrawn from all the last three SS/PSS tourneys and Wang Xiaoli who retired months before the Rio Olympics.

As a result, Team CHN is unexpectedly left in limbo, the worst hit being WS, WD, MD, XD, in that order, and even MS is not spared for the time being. Earnestly, it is to be hoped that Li Yongbo learnt a valuable lesson from the not entirely unforeseen circumstances and seriously take the most appropriate measures to put in place adequate contingency plans in future. Start by nurturing and grooming the younger cohort earlier, even for those at the junior level, by giving them as much international exposure as possible in both the higher and lower tier tournaments.

At the same time, internally, more concrete effort should be made to talent-scout and spot potential and highly promising players at the provincial and municipal level by holding regular selection exercises, say half-yearly or at least annually, whether by special invitation, recommendations by coaches, or simply open the registration to all and sundry. To make it more attractive and interesting, I'd suggest that prizes be offered either in cash or in kind for those who emerge on top in the respective categories, besides offering the incentive of automatic induction to the national (2nd) team.

I understand from what I've gathered, CBA does sometimes hold such selection exercises but they are often ad hoc events and comprises only a handful of participants, most of the time not even conducted annually, and usually a couple of their national team players, who are under threat of relegation to their provincial teams for having been lackluster in their performances at the international circuit, are also involved to give them a second chance. Such a practice is, to me, grossly inadequate and don't yield the desired results as I believe there are not a few undiscovered or hidden budding talents spread across the various provinces and municipalities. I feel a more rigorous process of combing them out is called for, the more so as CHN badminton is currently facing threats from all sides, so to speak. The matter brooks no delay, in my humble opinion.

 

I guess Zhang Nan based on his status has a say in who he chooses to be his XD partner, there's a reason why he picked her for a start. But I'm sure he'd also want to try out one or two others some time later before settling on one permanent partner for the Tokyo 2020 OG cycle.

 

Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin just missed out on the Rio OG spot at the eleventh hour when they were unexpectedly overtaken by Ma Jin/Xu Chen in the OG qualification rankings, and they seemed to have some difficulties against certain foreign pairs, Ahmad/Natsir, and Fisher/Pedersen, iirc.

So I guessed both Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin would like to try out new partners to see how it works out, I think.

 

Li Yinhui is regarded as one of the most aggressive doubles players among the juniors - she and her WD partner when they won a GPG title, offhand I can't remember who, either Huang Dongping or Du Yue, was dubbed in jest by Cai Yun as the 'Butcher Team'.

I supposed there's a reason why Zhang Nan chose to try her out first. I believe he and the WD coaches are working on her game to be more all-rounded, a power smasher at the back when needed, a proficient setter with accurate placement shots, a clever front-court player with quick intercepts and deft touches. They will also be watching to see if she has the gumption in trying situations, the ability to stay calm and focused at crucial moments, possessing a cool head, strong will,and yes, mental toughness.

As Chen Qingchen is already doing so well with Zheng Siwei, and getting better, it's a bad idea to split them.

I reckon Bao Yixin and Tang Yuanting may be next in line to be tried out, if Zhang Nan so chooses before he settles for a firm partner. Meanwhile Li Yinhui should count herself lucky to be chosen and make the most of her opportunity for she has everything to gain and nothing to lose in having such a great illustrious player in Zhang Nan, practically a shortcut to success if she is up to it.

In my humble opinion, Zheng Siwei is no doubt an outstanding doubles player but clearly not yet up to Zhang Nan's level, certainly not in terms of experience and the ability to read the opponents' game and not as cool, calm and collected. To be fair, ZSW is only 19 years old, give him time to grow, develop and mature - I believe he'll get there one day, a rare gem to be cut and polished to bring out all its shining glory ,ultimately.

 

Clearly, Zhang Nan wants to try out different XD partners, first Lin Yinhui, then Huang Dongping, perhaps Bao Yixin is next in line ?

 

Precisely, why break up a pair or pairs that are making good progress with huge potential to reach the top, much better strategically to find a new partner who's not in a stable pairing to work with Zhang Nan since CHN has no lack of talents. The aim is to have at least two or more worldbeaters and not rely too much on any one pairing.

 

Personally I like Bao Yixin and do share your sentiments. Atm, BYX has split with Liu Cheng (I think they are still nursing their pre-OG slection wounds) and partnered with Li Junhui.

I believe CBA is also trying to find the best partners for her in XD and WD, I hope she's given a chance to try out with Zhang Nan in XD and Tang Yuanting preferably or someone else in WD.

 

I'd have preferred that both He Bingjiao and Shi Yuqi withdraw from the Bitburger Open GPG. their third tournament back-to-back, esp after winning last week's French Open, so that they can fly home , get over their jetlag and prepare for the CHN Open PSS less than two weeks from now, beginning 15th Nov.

Both HBJ and SYQ have fitness issues since their junior days as noticed by their junior days' coaches though they have shown improvement in this regard since their induction to the CHN National Team sometime in the last quarter of 2015. Moreover, they are not frequent travellers to long distances and across many timezones having been in the pro circuit for only a year and probably still unaccustomed to jetlag.

I feel that these two young up-and-comers should be put through the grind but not push them too hard for fear of accidental injury, esp He Bingjiao who with Sun Yu have to take on the mantle in the absence of Li Xuerui and the two retired Wangs. More haste , less speed. Better safe than sorry. Look what happened to Xue Song.