Here is the link of his announcement https://share.api.weibo.cn/share/261635573.html?weibo_id=4702727836270791
Really sad to see Li Junhui retire already. Not my favorite player but it is really sad to see a talent like him having to give up his career due to injuries at that young age...
Li Junhui is the kind of player that makes me like him and not like him at the same time. As long as he's not against Watanabe (back in the days), I was always drawn to watch his matches. His smashes and on-court antics were interesting and also provided comic relief. It's sad to hear the premature retirement.
Sad that Li Junhui is plagued by injuries, particularly his right knee joint that never fully recovered. Now with the pandemic creating uncertainties, it only makes things worse, probably hastening his decision to quit. All the best in his future endeavours. Hmm...who will partner Liu Yuchen now? Zhang Nan, for one final try at the Paris Olympics 2024?
Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen are a good pair,they accomplished a lot. Maybe Liu Yuchen and He Jiting can try to pair up. He Jiting plays well with Zhou Haodong but their combined ranking is too low to qualify for major events. Plus Liu Yuchen and He Jiting are not that far apart in age which is good for the longer term. If He Jiting and Liu Yuchen start to play together I'm not sure whether their world ranking will also drop though. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
What a misfortune for Chinese Shuttlers. They supposed to end their 21days isolation today, but the new case of Covid from the same flight was detected yesterday. So they end up continue their quarantine another 7days , so make it 28 days in total. Such a heartbreaking news for them as they are surely excited to end the long isolation today and start making preparation for WC. I hope their mental health is doing well despite all those hardships.
As they say, it never rains but it pours. Let's wait and see how many of these Chinese contenders end up as 'sacrificial lambs' at Huelva, Spain, as they are all without exception in suboptimal conditions.
I still think it's worth a try despite not having a power smasher at the rear court, the usual or conventional set-up in most, if not all, cases. As it is, Zhang Nan's current partner, Ou Xuanyi, is such a power hitter at the rear court but his defenses are relatively weak and he can't seem to sort of read or understand what his famous partner is doing and often fails to follow up with his shotmaking by getting into position or anticipate the likely return shot. In other words, the two don't click. What's more, practically all the existing Chinese MD pairs , excepting LJH/LYC, appear to be not very good in front court play vis-a vis their foreign counterparts, losing the exchanges more often than not while relying a bit too much on rear court power play. As I've expressed before, it might be a viable proposition to have two very capable and experienced partners who can complement as well as supplement each other though neither are wont to , not that they are incapable of, I think, unleashing power smashes repeatedly at the back court. No harm experimenting as I don't see that many options left given the existing crop of CHN MDs available. In fact, I once even suggested pairing Zhang Nan with Huang Kaixiang for the same considerations. Let's wait and see as I think Zhang Nan, still only 31 years of age, is probably serious about going for one more shot at the Olympics, Paris 2024, and it's obvious his partnership with Ou Xuanyi isn't working fine, not to mention Liu Yuchen needs a replacement quickly.
On the other hand, I think all the players will be disadvantaged except Carolina Marin and Tai Tzu Ying , Huang Yaqiang/Zheng Siwei. Because they are having enough time to prepare for WC. The Chinese Shuttlers will be disadvantaged because suboptimal conditions, other players will be burn out , might be too tired because of the back to back tournaments, non stop 3 weeks full of tournaments in Bali. Malaysian players especially might be under perform, just looking at LZJ. He played non stop since since Sudirman Cup , and now he retired at hylo and ind master. While many top players only chose to rest a bit for not play at Hylo. And they continued this pack schedule until world tour final. I remembered Tai Tzu Ying once said, the back to back tournament (2 weeks in a row) made her really tired and affected her performance on court. So now, just imagine 8/7/6 tournaments in a row. So much respect to the athletes if they could maintain their level.
GOOD NEWS . The quarantine for Chinese players already lifted today. They just extend one day which is yesterday. Today they will head to Chengdu for close training . All is well.
The Bank of China Lin Dan cup interclub mixed team competition ended yesterday in Shenzen. Ms Xie Xingfang presented the trophy to the winning club from Zhejiang. The MS match between two teenagers born in 2004 or later was quite interesting. Here is the link for those who may want to watch it. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1w...tag=s_i×tamp=1637166652&unique_k=Yh8cxh5 The boy in blue is Deng Dong Lei, the other boy is Huang Xin. I had posted another video where Deng played against Sun Chao last year. They were 16 and 15 years old respectively then. Here is the link if anyone wants to watch it again. https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1N...E14F7F4287A50246CB2BFC764866&ts=1605692812239
I noticed that Li Shifeng has been invited as the 3rd China representative (LGZ and ZJP being the other two) for the world championship. Sun Feixiang was also invited, but according to the list, he has declined (or has he retired too?) I think the final list of participants will be released on 29/11/21
