yes. unfortunately as one of the Chinese media writes: "you can dislike her, but you cannot disregard her."
Oh, I agree. She repulses me so severely with her demeanour that I simply don't watch her matches any longer, despite knowing that she is playing better than anyone else ATM and improve every changeover at an unprecedented rate for her level. But there is no denying her talent and the drive, desire and the willingness to go to every extreme of the rulebook to meet her end. No offence to rose-tinted fans of LXR, RI or AY (include me in latter two), but Marin simply is above the field right now. Still 200 days is a long time and given the depth of the field, if the 16 silver contenders and 14 bronze contenders improve fast, that even Marin can be upset at Rio.
Certainly happened now. And the signs have been there since the rise of Akane Yamaguchi (from around 2013). Also when RI won the world champs in 2013. Now in 2015, the best player is Carolina Marin by far. You're deluded if you think otherwise - All England and World Champion (defended her title), as well as a host of other big-ish tournaments. Last week, the top 4 ranked WS players didn't feature anyone from China. Telling.
For 2008 and 2012 Olympics, LYB needed to have four WS players in ranks 1, 2, 3 and 4. After Paul Eric Larson Hoyer was elected president of BWF, LYB can only send 2 WS players to Olympics. He can choose any 2 within top 16. So LYB only needs three (at most four) players in top 16.
Presently, among the four top CHN WS players, each of them faces a problem of their own. For LXR, I still put it down more to her mentality weakness. However,I'm not denying her injury woes since last August and for the better part of this year that stymied her return to form and progress though she is beginning to come back as proven by her two PSS title wins lately. For WYH, her form suddenly took a sudden dip since the last quarter of 2014. It was reported that she was plagued by all sorts of minor injuries (her longstanding lower back problem is one of them), including her inexplicable considerable loss of weight, almost 10 kg, which for a period of time affected her stamina and physical strength. I read that lately she is beginning to regain a bit of her weight and ,hopefully, her performance will improve as well as she seems to be showing gradually albeit inconsistently. For WSX, she is the least affected by mentality issues, fairly stable and steady, however, alas , whilst her rallying stroke game is her forte enabling her to build up the cumulative advantage but her lack of more threatening shots to finish off the rally is a concerning limitation. Otherwise, I'd be most prepared to consider WSX as one of the top 3/4 contenders for Rio Olympic gold. As for Sun Yu, I don't have to say much - she is like a work-in-progress. Li Yongbo's latest decision to send her to more lower tier tournaments, such as GPG/GP, to help her regain her confidence is the right move. In LYB's view, the current plight of CHN WS is exacerbated by the absence of a younger CHN WS cohort able to reinforce and fill the gap or shortfall in the senior echelon, three of whom, namely LXR,WYH and WSX, are still having to shoulder the heaviest duties and responsibilities for Team CHN since the London Olympic cycle. In other words, the self-renewal process has fallen short. Of course, part of the problem is due to the rest of the world catching up, as he admitted. I believe LYB has in mind not the younger juniors such as He Bingjiao and Chen Yufei who are in the 17-19 age group and still competing at the junior championships but the slightly older cohort of which belongs Sun Yu and some others around her age ( such as Suo Di, Deng Xuan, Chen Xiaoxia, to name a few).
I forgot to add, Li Yongbo also voiced his displeasure and concerns that the young cohort is unable to take hardship (train very hard), particularly the girls, the boys are better.
Now when WYH and WSX had retired and LXR is currently injured it will be even more interesting how will Chinese youngsters respond to the task.
If HBJ can win another SS back to back, it is safe to say China dominance in WS is likely to continue. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
At the moment,as we can see, only three , He Bingjiao, Sun Yu, and Chen Yufei, are up to it to assume the mantle of CHN WS mainstays for the major team and individual championships within the next one or two years. The last named, Chen Yufei, at 18 years old, is still doing duty at the junior level and ,I believe, this November's WJC will be her last junior tournament, after which she'll transition fully to the senior level. I must say Chen Yufei amazed me by her performance today at the KOR Open R2 where she disposed of Intanon Ratchanok in two straight sets and the latter actually didn't play too badly. Instead, Chen Yufei's fast and decisive attacking game with sudden injection of pace coupled with stubborn defence when needed put paid to Intanon's campaign. This match contrasted with Chen Yufei's game against Lee Chia Hsin yesterday where the former didn't appear as sharp and forceful and was more error-prone, unlike her game with Intanon today. I reckoned Chen Yufei could be highly motivated and inspired to play above herself in view of her famous opponent's reputation and standing in the badminton world, probably adopting an underdog mentality to let herself go and give her all fearlessly with nothing to lose. It is to be hoped that the 18-year-old Chen Yufei who has proven herself a talented player with huge potential will go on to scale greater heights in the years to come and be counted among the very best in the world as soon as possible. As I recalled, in fact it was sometime last year that Chen Yufei, then only 17 , first caught my attention and earned her coaches' approval for her victory over another highly ranked world class player in Bae Yeon Ju at an international competition. Today she has gone one better by her stunning victory over Intanon Ratchanok, even stronger top-notch player. Such a fine win by Chen Yufei together with He Bingjiao and Sun Yu's outstanding performance at the Japan Open SS in a one-two finish certainly bodes well for CHN WS return to former glory and,possibly, renewed dominance.
junior players biggest problem is consistency and also inability to adapt to different opponents and condition. it takes experiences
Have the Wangs retired, after the Olympics in Rio? Can not believe it. I mean one of the youngest is Wang Shixian who is only 26 years old! The other taller one is 28 Wang Yihan.
