May Li Xuerui's comeback opens a new chapter in her career, more successful and happier than ever as well as becoming a more complete person leading a fulfilling life, richer in spirit and fuller.
http://sports.qq.com/a/20170221/055049.htm dated 21st Feb : The other day, CHN Head Coach Li Yongbo stated that in the May Sudirman Cup, Lin Dan, Chen Long, Fu Haifeng and Li Xuerui , these four (past and current) Olympic champions will be the main force, etc. Li Xuerui? Can she make it ? Even though there's no knowing her form coming back from injury, it's undeniable that, at a time when CHN WS is at an all-time low the past few years, Li Xuerui's return holds great significance both to herself and the team. Li Xuerui only returned to China in January last month from Germany after her knee operation and six months rehabilitation period accompanied by her mother following her injury sustained at the Rio Olympics. As she has just recovered from her injury and not quite ready for full-scale training, she was not asked to join the rest of the national team for the winter training at Lingshui, in Hainan. Instead she first went back to her hometown in Chongqing to pass the Lunar New year, after which she flew to Beijing where at the training center she spend her days doing basic recovery exercises. The author is of the view that post-operative recovery is a long and difficult process, Li Xuerui in her current state is far from being able to take part in any competition, what is the significance of her persevering day after day ? Firstly, Li Xuerui regardless of her injury, has never said she would retire post-Rio'16, for the 1991 born LXR to campaign for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is by no means impossible. We must know that Zhang Ning captured her first Olympic gold at exactly age 29 and even repeated the performance at 33 years old. After striking out successfully as a dark horse at London Olympics, Li Xuerui at one go became the CHN leading WS; however,in the following three years she failed to mount the winner's rostrum at the world championships, unable to complete the grand slam, naturally that remains the goal she is pursuing. Furthermore, leaving the competition arena for good due to injury is also not what she hoped for. Next, CHN badminton really still needs Li Xuerui. During the half year of her injury, CHN WS faced the biggest crisis in terms of challenges and shortage of talents in recent years. Although Sun Yu has the physical advantage and is able to achieve some good tournament results, she is not considered outstanding; He Bingjiao, even though she is the main target for grooming during the Tokyo OG cycle, she's yet to go through the baptism of fire and there's room for improvement in her ability and experience;in addition, Chen Yufei and others do not have any remarkable performance. Actually, it's not impossible for Li Xuerui to make a comeback, Zhang Ning once underwent just that knee surgery prior to the Beijing Olympics,at one time she wasn't even part of the Uber Cup lineup, and almost didn't make it to the Olympics, yet as an unfancied prospect she went on to gain another Olympic championship, showing us what perseverance can do to reach success. If Li Xuerui can recover from her injury perfectly, and be tough on herself,she will once again have a role to play among the multitude of top women's singles.
Frankly, I feel that for Li Yongbo to expect her to play a leading role in the Sudirman Cup is not very realistic, while not a long shot, he's pushing it. My worry is that Li Xuerui, feeling duty-bound and wanting to live up to expectations, may actually push herself too hard even if or when she is not 100% match fit, thereby risking another injury. Besides, by the time of the Sudirman Cup deadline for submission of name list, her ranking would've fallen below Sun Yu and He Bingjiao's. that means she will be there as a reserve unless HBJ's name is taken out, assuming SY is in. Maybe, I'm speculating, LXR is sent as a reserve but she'd be fielded only from the Quarterfinals onward so as not to stress her too much while leaving SY and HBJ to take care of the group stage matches. At most, let LXR play a relatively weak opponent in one of the early rounds to help her settle in quickly as well as test her readiness or ensure her preparedness.
I understand Li Xuerui is not even registered to play at the OUE SIN Open SS in April 11-16, how is she going to be ready for the leading WS1 role at the Sudirman Cup when she's having enough tournaments to regain her competitive edge ? Worrisome.
Despite of LYB stating that Li Xuerui would be main force in Sudirman Cup, I think it would be wise for LXR to play only when she thinks she is fully fit and rehabilitated. She would be wary of what happened with Wang Lin when she started playing in tournaments early. Saina Nehwal also struggled when she came back early from the surgery. She should also be careful of the mental aspect of the injury which lingers on long after the player has recovered. She, along with Wang Shixian and Wang Xin (who rose in the badminton scene around the same time) have revolutionized the game. Two of them have retired. I think LXR has in herself to overcome the injury and rise back to the top. China and sport enthusiasts desperately wait for her return. But she should come back only when she is ready. It would be great to she her back in form, especially when WS is already very exciting.
Unrealistic to see LXR back as WS1 for sudirman cup, but she is back training with the team. Maybe lucky enough to see her at Asian Champs/one of the GPG events earlier in the year? Can't see even LYB putting her as WS1.
Not as WS1 but as reserve where she can be fielded as and when needed since here's only one WS match ih each tie. Still I think she's not ready, not match fit for the role yet. After such a long injury break and only just back for training less than two months now or about four before the Sudirman Cup, she is seriously out of tournament practice and ye to regain her competitive edge. I'd say fielding her at the Sudirman Cup is a gamble by Li Yongbo, other than the element of surprise, I see no real advantage, might even be a disadvantage. Also there's the concern that she may push herself too hard not to let the team down, and with the added pressure of the big occasion, the risk of injury is higher, I think. Perhaps LYB just want her there to inject confidence in the team for WS, and would only field her at the group stage against a relatively weak opponent to see how it goes. After all, in the absence of WYH and WSX,including LXR's temporary layoff, CHN WS is suddenly short-handed with only Sun Yu and the two juniors, He Bingjiao and Chen Yufei, to fall on, and all of them aren't exactly at LXR's level yet. No wonder LYB is worried and has to call back Fu Haifeng from retirement to partner Zhang Nan in MD at the SC, in addition to using the less than match fit LXR in WS. What with Chen Long's known tendency to underperform at team championships as well as Lin Dan in his twilight years, I justifiably feel that this year's Sudirman Cup will be CHN's toughest in recent years to retain, the more so as she also has to depend on the young up-and-comers in WD and XD where they are still somewhat lacking in big match experience.
LXR is on the registration list for China Masters, nice tournament to ease back into competitive play. Wonder if she will play asian champs the week after.
Yes, the WS are full of youngsters, much younger than her. She was having trouble beating these youngsters before her injury what more now a comeback and during this period, the youngsters have improved.
I came her to ask if anyone has got any news about her. I am already missing her. Well great to gear she may participated in CHN masters, at least now I have one reason to watch the tourney
Sadly, LXR's comeback seems to be an uphill struggle,perhaps her rehabilitation is not complete and she has to withdraw, to play safe, if she's going to the Sudirman Cup; might be a bit of a stretch to her.
Btw, I understand LXR will be enrolled for the BAC held in Wuhan next month (as somebody posted earlier), the week after the CHN Masters. So I guess the coaches and/or herself are playing it safe by not letting her play back-to-back tournaments for a start; hence she withdrew from the CHN Masters to concentrate on the higher BAC event. Just saying.
