so comical... all the comments sounding like the sky is falling on team china. why? just because they didn't do well in 1 olympic tournament? china's failure is still better than nearly all other teams. again... comical. anti-white knight disclosure: i don't give a rats ass about team china.
sounds like the team is in transition, heh heh. quite the analysis, justin. i have a couple ?'s... if the rest of the major world teams had not improved during the past 3 years, and china kept winning as usual, would anyone be talking about this? do we know for a fact china has never had these internal problems before, but, since they kept dominating nobody cared or noticed?
TBH I think there needs to be a change in the Badminton coaching infrastructure. New ideas for a new era. Problem is, I'm not sure there are any coaches that are ready to take up the mantle. I can't think of anyone... can you?
The poor performance of the women's team was quite astonishing especially XD and WD. Before the olympics China could put up any combination and they were impressive. So what went wrong? IMHO the XD pair of MJ and XC were not really effective , they were on a downhill trend and even ZYL was underperforming against the top pairs. Lx in singles was not interested and wouldn't try too hard. Due to physical problems or she had had enough. And to put forward the Luo twins was not a good move. It looked as if LYB was giving a last farewell to the veterans. YY is a good example. She was banned in London ,so given a chance to get gold here. YY and TY were not a "happy" pairing even before the olympics. I just hope the juniors will not get disheartened by all these. New combinations need to be formed and most of the veterans will do well to retire. I wonder whether they can as the SS has to continue. And of course LYB has to take responsibility for this and do the right thing.
Team CHN's worst Olympic showing is at Atlanta 1996 with: one gold for WD, Ge Fei/Gu Jun, one silver for MS Dong Jiong, one bronze of WD, QIn Yiyaun/Tang Yongshu, and one bronze in XD, Liu Jianjun/Sun Man 1 Gold, 1 Silver, Two Bronzes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badminton_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics The Rio'16 Olympics is Team CHN's second worst result with 2 Golds and 1 Bronze
actually, the worst showing is 1992, where China got ZERO gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze. that prompted the re-org of the whole Chinese team and brought about the LYB era.
This is my favorite season of badminton, when the squad has to decide new pairings after the Olympics. Assuming the older players retire, What pairing would you like to see? Id like to see Zhang Nan/Hong Wei in MD. Bao Yixin/Tang yuanting in WD. Also please bring back Tang jinhua. Bao Yixin/Zhang Nan in the XD.
hm.... if the rumors are correct, for (personal) reasons between these 2 players, this will probably not happen.
Tang Jinhua with Tian Qing. This pairing is very promising; I don't know why they were dropped. But Tian Qing is nearing 30? Some new pairings that I would like to see: WD: Tian Qing/Tang Jinhua (not likely to last till the next Olympics, but should be dominant while they last) Tang Yuanting/Chen Qingchen or Tang Yuanting/Huang Dongping or Tang Yuanting/Li Yinhui Ou Dongni/Jia Yifan MD: Liu Cheng/Zhang Nan or Lu Kai/Zhang Nan Liu Cheng/Zheng Siwei XD: Zheng Siwei/Chen Qingchen Huang Kaixiang/Huang Dongping or Huang Kaixiang/Li Yinhui
Ah, I stand corrected, 1 silver and 4 bronzes in Barcelona, Spain, 1992. The author of this article got it wrong when he wrote Atlanta 1996 was the worst. http://2016.sina.com.cn/china/2016-08-21/doc-ifxvcsrm2084001.shtml
Few eyebrow raising entries and removals in the Denmark Open Super Series Premiere 2016 1) Where is Fu Haifeng ? Has he played his last professional match? 2)Bao Yixin/ Tang Yuanting removed before deadline. 3) Why Zhang Nan and Liu Cheng? Why not Zhang Nan and Zheng Sewei? I am pretty sure the former partnership will not work. 4) Why not Xue Song instead of Shi Yuqi ? 5) Why Li Junhui/ Bao Yixin? Have the coaches given up on Bao/ Liu ? 6) Is Zhang Nan's XD career finished ?
Its so nice to see the China juniors performing at the Indonesian Masters and the men didn't disappoint. But I wonder why other juniors weren't represented like Tan Zhenning and Lu Guangzu for example. Both looked like excellent players. I hope the CBA will allow them some exposure soon. The women didn't perform as well. Noticeable that the Malaysian women are showing good progress and its due to extensive support from the MBA, who send many new players to compete all over the world. Its time the CBA did something similar?
Well I certainly cannot believe that I am saying this now. Wow what is happening to the whole China team badminton I am so baffled. Their poor performance in the recent Olympics 2016 leaves me in utter disbelief and shocked. What is happening to China team now? What Is Li Yongbo the head coach up to? I just cannot believe that this will happen to China team after Li Yongbo has took over and be in charge for so many years. Wow the badminton powerhouse crumbled just like that. Looks like the Great Wall Of China has crumbled and broken to pieces. I seriously felt that a revamp must be done for China badminton. I mean lots of changes must be done and it must start of with the change of a new head coach of course. Wow so many internal problems happening in CBA and their players. Wow if something is not done immediately I am afraid China badminton will continue to go downhill and that will be the end of the whole story. I just cannot believe I have to say this now after enjoying so many years of great badminton from the China team and players.
Well to be honest China badminton scene going downhill has been there for a long time already. The evidence has already been there since China lose in the semi finals of Thomas Cup 2014. Just that it has hardly been noticed. Then this year 2016 things worsen when China lose in the quarter finals of Thomas Cup 2016 clearly showing the evidence that China badminton is going downhill and The Great Wall Of China has cracked. But then after this year poor finishing edition in Rio Olympics 2016 it is too evident by now that The Great Wall Of China has crumbled and broken to pieces. Hence I would like to give some suggestions on how to improve China badminton situation. 1. The head coach of badminton (Li Yongbo) must be changed at all cost. If the head coach is still Li Yongbo I think China badminton will not improve at all and just continue to go downhill. Something is very wrong. I cannot believe China badminton can come to this stage after Li Yongbo has been in reign for so many years as the head coach. Wow Li Yongbo must step down at all cost. His time is up. If Li Yongbo continues to be the China head coach it will be very damaging for China badminton and China badminton will just continue to go downhill. 2. Doubles partnership must be fixed and made permanent quickly. There should be no constant changes of doubles partnership. What I am seeing till now is different pairs going for different tournaments. This does not help. A pair need to take a long time to understand each other and to gel up to compliment each other. Sorry but I have to say this. Yu Yang / Tang Yuanting is a failed partnership. I wonder how this partnership can be formed at the first place. 3. Get rid of military style training. Military style training that only focuses on winning gold medal is very detrimental to the players as well. Well China system as far as I have observed focused too much on the attacking and smashing power. Players will be told to smash full force constantly full of power. That eventually shorten the life of the players. Constant smashes can lead to unwarranted injuries. 4. Send players to tournaments at a young age. Do not send the players our for tournaments when they are at the end of their twenties. Expose them when they are young. 5. If I am not mistaken China athletes are roped into sports academy at a very young age 6 or 7 years old. I have seen it before many video clips of this before in English. So sorry to say this. I saw many videos of China gymnasts cried at a very young age while training because they are forced to do difficult stunts that they cannot do at a very young age. I know it is good for athletes to be exposed at a young age is good. But forcing an athlete to do something they cannot do at a young age is very inhuman and a form of torture. This is also against human rights. 6. Players should not be forced to smash and excel at a young age of 6 or 7 years old. I mean it is good to expose the players early but not to the extend of the badminton players gong for such tough military training since young. Hence at the age of 18 the players by then are already badly or seriously injured that they cannot do much to excel. 7. Winning in tournaments is good but do not emphasize winning as the sole reason for sport. In every tournament there is only 1 gold medal. So what will happen if every one wants to win a gold medal? Sports I believe is for health. So no point to over exert the players and forced the players to go through such though military style training. It will only make them injured and cannot perform well in tournaments. 8. There must be a balanced and well organised system and structure in CBA. The system in CBA seriously need an overhaul and revamp. If this is not done immediately I believe China badminton will be ruined and going downhill. CBA should learn from the recent success of China Volley ball team and learn how they change the whole sports structure and system to win a gold medal. Yes Lang Ping the China volley ball coach did a good job. She successfully changed the whole system and get rid of the military style. Hence China won the volley ball gold medal. 9. China should learn from other teams that perform well in Olympics 2016 such as USA and Great Britain. Their athletes need not go through military style training since young but yet they excel and produce good results. China must seriously change and get rid of their old military style system. A new modern more relax approach must be used to train the athletes. Traditional methods just does not work anymore. 10. China must change and evolve following the modern days and new techniques and tactics. Old methods should not be used anymore. There are also too many issues among the China players and also among the different China XD, MD and WD pairs. So the relationship issues and communication issues between the pairs must be solved immediately if China wished to see good results coming in. So sorry for saying all this. But I feel that something must be done immediately to save China badminton before it worsen. This is just my personal opinion.
I do agree that Chinese badminton has somewhat lost its power/dominance over the years since the 2012 Olympics. Yes, their WS players are no longer dominating and sweeping tournaments like in the past (2013/2014). Yes, they are winning much less MD titles than before (Super Series level). However, China still remains as the country grabbing the most medals at the Super Series and the World Championships. Even in the olympics, China, winning 2 golds and 1 bronze, is the country on the top of the medal table. Yes, this is MUCH LESS than 2012 Olympics where China won 5 golds, 2 silver and 1 bronze. I also think that Chinese badminton has been going downhill but they are still a powerhouse. Their Great Wall may have cracks but I wouldn't say that it has "crumbled and broken to pieces". Also, I have to say I disagree with some of your suggestions. First, you explain, "winning in tournaments is good but do not emphasize winning as the sole reason for sport" and "sports I believe is for health". umm... We are talking about PROFESSIONAL badminton players. Their job is to WIN matches/tournaments/titles, NOT to become healthy. Second, you state, "a new modern more relax approach must be used to train the athletes" seen in "other teams that perform well in Olympics 2016 such as USA and Great Britain" whose athletes "need not go through military style training since young but yet they excel and produce good results". ????? I am not quite sure what you mean by more "relaxed" training styles but you have remind yourself that any professional athlete no matter which sport they are playing, no matter which country they are from, ALL go through insane competition and hard training regimes from a young age to become top tier and produce good results at the international stage such as the Olympics. I would also like to talk about the intensive training that damages the players in the long run. In my opinion, it is a sort of a necessary evil. Coaches and directors at badminton associations are hired to produced results. Most professional badminton players' physicality is at its height in the mid twenties and starts to decline after their thirties. Players only have a limited period of time to achieve best results until they become too weak/slow. Naturally, coaches want to design and implement intense training regimes when their athletes' bodies are at its peak to maximize their performance even if this means that they will face problems after retirement. This combined with the evolution of sports science over the years basically leads to coaches molding stronger/faster players by pushing players right to their limits (brink of permanent/big injury). It is like pulling an elastic band back right before the point where it would tear/snap and letting go. Of course, pulling an elastic band such an amount will definitely allow it to be launched further. However, pulling the band right up to its limit multiple times will result in it tearing. Sometimes we pull too much (training too demanding) and the band snaps (professional players retiring early). This is why we see so many retired international players whose bodies are just in complete wrecks. I truly believe it is a sad sight. However, realistically speaking it is an effective way of producing results (at least in the association's point of view). The players are not going to be strong forever so they might as well push them to their limit to win titles while they are in their physical prime even if it means they will most likely have problems afterwards. This is a phenomenon that is seen commonly in the Korean badminton scene. I have noticed this especially with retired Korean MD players. If you observe national tournaments/exhibition matches of Jung Jae Sung, Hwang Ji Man and Lee Jae Jin, you can notice that their smashes have become noticeably weaker compared to their primes (but of course its still very powerful compared to others). Yes, some of it is due to age but a part of it is also due to the demanding training they received. I remember reading an interview where JJS talked about how his shoulder has been damaged so much to point (one big factor in him retiring) where icing it wouldn't do anything. Anyways, I didn't mean to attack you or anything. I am sorry if the post was too aggressive. just wanted to express my thoughts. For anyone who has read all of this long post, thank you very much.
Too many unforeseen circumstances and contributing factors coming together at the wrong time to derail Team CHYN's quest at the Rio Olympics, otherwise, I won't be surprised CHN end up with 4 golds, possibly, MS, XD,and WD, while MD is unexpected but not improbable. For WS, I daresay sending Wang Shixian instead of Wang Yihan might actually improve their chances, just speculating. Li Xuerui's injury is accidental but her more serious problem is still herself actually. Anyway, what's done cannot be undone, all water under the bridge. True, internal problems in CBA have been simmering for quite some time the last couple of years and the below-average results by CHN's standards have been telling and worrisome but apparently the root causes haven't been addressed or properly acknowledged, most of all by Li Yongbo himself, surprisingly. Now that the issues have boiled over and degenerated into an embarrassing disappointment at Rio'16 of all times, I'm afraid some drastic actions are necessary to stem the decay. Either LYB bites the bullet and do what's called-for even if he has to play villain again or step down for someone else to take over the painful, perhaps highly unpopular, or even daunting, task of clearing up the mess, of course, without throwing the baby out with the bath water. No matter how great LYB has been over his long, glorious career as Head Coach,the many imprints he left behind and some deeply ingrained things he implemented over the past decades by his decision and personal character would make it complicated, tricky and difficult for him to undo or revamp the system for which he is in large measure responsible.
