The guessing game for Chinese WS starts early for this cycle. I agree that WYH won't be around in Rio. LXR is at this stage 50:50. Factors in her favour are: (A) she won OLY2012 (B) she won National Games of China 2013 (C) she is regarded by many as the best WS player at the moment. Factors against her: (1) she lost in WC2013 against a 18 year old. (2) she hasn't won anything big except OLY2012. (3) her knee injury is not improving. I like Sun Yu, too. We will see.
As of now, WSX and WYH have to fight it out for the 2nd slot. If WSX continues to improve her game while WYH still occasionally shows inconsistency, the former's chances is reasonably good if not better than the latter's. Still I hope WYH has the determination and will to give herself another go at the Rio Olympics. But I do agree with Cheung that one or other rising star from CHN may suddenly emerge to steal the thunder from these two, possible candidates being Liu Xin, Sun Yu, Yao Xue or even He Bingjiao, or,who knows, one of the 15- to 20-yr-old juniors/second-stringers now competing at the ongoing China International Challenge ! As for LXR, I daresay she will once again be a top contender come Rio'16. Her near-miss at the last WC which she attributed to her own fault will serve as a new impetus to propel her irresistibly forward all the way to the next Olympics, including the next WCs and majors en route.
WSX does not exudes the winning confidence like LD, XXF or ZN that LYB would want to bank on especially with only 2 tickets to RIO. LXR will be in RIO, the 2nd choice is open.
Oh, I'm pretty confident WYH will be in Rio. I mean, I don't know if she'll be selected for the team, but I'd wager that loss to LXR in London stung bad, and she's desperate to make amends and win the next Olympics. You can see it in the way she's taken care of LXR the last few times they've met - she had properly strategized against her, and those were wins with venom. And I don't think WYH is in any worse physical shape than, say, LXR. The only time WYH looked like she was going to keel over and pass out was in her match against Sindhu at the WC, and I'd be more careful of a player like Sindhu (rather than someone like LXR) in 2016 if I were WYH.
I never thought I'd see the day when WSX would again win a major title by beating both WYH and LXR. WSX really improved her court speed and stamina.
Definitely. It was an impressive performance and it really meant a lot to her as we saw at the end of the match. Would have loved to have been there to watch her. She looks like a player having been given a puzzle and now knows how to solve it. LXR, despite an Olympic title, doesn't exude that inner self belief. Is she too deferential to her senior?
With this combination of new level of fitness and playstyle she had, i won't surprise if WSX crowned as the world champion one day. Congratulations for being AE champion once more to WSX!
Consummate stroke play, finesse and accuracy in executing placement shots, the uncanny ability to make her opponents twist and turn trying to cover all four corners of the court, the stamina to keep running and running and superb defensive skills in throwing everything back at the opponent - these are Wang Shixian's extraordinary strengths, IMHO. Her weaknesses? Still the lack of a killer smash. The other is her occasional lapse of concentration at crucial moments to finish the set or match, eg when holding 6 matchpoints against Han Li in the final of the East Asian Games'13 and 4 matchpoints against Tai Tzu Ying in the semifinal of the SSF'13 which ended in her defeats. Hope such incidents don't reoccur to her anymore, if possible. I won't say too much, just let Wang Shixian's racquet do more of the talking.
Yes, it's an open secret Chen Long and Wang Shixian are an item but the couple prefer to keep a low profile and so far everybody in CBA as well as the Chinese media respect their wishes. Still,there are two articles reporting about their relationship now, more or less confirming it: http://sports.qq.com/a/20140310/014495.htm http://sports.qq.com/a/20140311/006594.htm
Considering the news articles I read from Reuters and the South China Morning Post state that Wang Shixian is Chen Long's girlfriend, I'd say that's pretty much definite confirmation that she is. I must say they both could have done worse.
It seems it was Reuters who broke the story. Domestic media never mention anything until now. It also didn't mention Zhang Ning's pregnancy until a month or two after the London Olympics.
wouldn't that be nice if they can go one better than Lin Dan/Xie Xingfang's 2008 OLY achievement in 2016 Brazil!
You're right,it was Reuters who broke the news this time and the Chinese article, the first one I quoted, merely reported it accordingly, a good excuse to do so. That will be one up for Chen Long and Wang Shixian over the Golden Couple Lin Dan and Xie Xingfang who both won the 2007 AE title, then the 2008 Beijing Olympic Gold and Silver. Maybe Chen Long and Wang Shixian can start by taking the WC title together this year and/or the next before aiming for Rio'16, that in itself will still be a comparable great achievement.
WSX lost to PV Sindhu, H2H is now 0-3. What aspects of her play do you guys think are contributing to these defeats against Sindhu?
Actually speaking, Shixian is good at handling tall players.. Even Yihan is a tall player compared to sindhu and also Sun Yu. Last week, she overcame yihan comfortably. She also has H2H record of 2-0 against SunYu , who is a tall badminton player in the circuit. So, this implies that she does not have problem with height but with her techniques against sindhu. My two cents..
