Will we see the following: Wang Yihan : Reigning World Champion Wang Shixian: Reigning Asian Games Champion Wang Xin: Soon-to-be Olympic Champion ???? (I doubt it) If that comes true, this Era is equivalent or even more prosperous than HanAiping/LiLingWei era.
the selection process is out of our reach, nothing we can do on it now. 4 of them deserved the spot in OG because they already fighting for their WRs, but the rules not support it. so what to say? the concern now for me is to see how WYH, WX and LXR deliver in OG. they better give all their best, keep in mind that they're in OG because their friend accept well the reality that she must stay at home. and wishing WSX all the best too for the future.
WYH underwent a disastrous period after her defeat in 2010 UC finals, took the blame for bringing down the whole team. After a period of relative hiatus, she succeeded to come back and getting even stronger from then on. Surely WSX can learn much from this relatively fresh example, to relook into herself and strive very hard to make her come back and be even stronger than before. If she fails to respond properly to this challenge, then sorry, she shouldn't be part of the team. To improve or to perish. As much as I wanna see WX and esp. LXR to make it to London Olympics, I feel empathetic to WSX miss for she'd been in high place until mid 2011, then going down to being opted out eventually. But her poor H2H records to foreign opponents dictate her own doom. After all, in such an event as big as Olympics, the personal interests of any athlete can't and shouldn't be the ultimate objective! Having said all of these, I have good confidence that WSX will be able to make quite a noticeable comeback
Now the question is how far can LXR go in this Olympics. I hope she will be in the same half as WX rather WYH because the current top two players are WYH and LXR. I really don't want to see that she was ordered to loss to WYH in semifinal.
I wouldn't speak too soon,cannot foresee how things will pan out;besides,LYB's main concern is for CHN to win gold,not which specific player. What's more,no coach worth his salt will "order" his charges in advance who's been picked to win gold and the other two are merely supporting roles;you can well imagine the unintended consequences. Remember,in the past,when he instructed Ye Zhaoying (and promised her she would share all the rewards) to lose to Gong Zhichao,the latter wasn't aware of it until the episode was over, and later both of them actually dared to embarrass LYB by going public about their grievances and displeasure. It's so easy to typecast a person based on what he did in the past but human affairs are so unpredictable. I believe any decision he make will be according to the demands of the situation there and then as it unfolds. Nobody can really foresee,let alone control,the future;we can at most prepare for it,even then, the best of plans can go awry;that's life. At this stage,surely he won't want to do anything to adversely affect the girls' mental state, after having made the difficult decision of unselecting WSX (who is still in tears). Pardon me for saying this,ladies,we are dealing with women who,by nature,are generally more sensitive and emotional.
Let's wait for 23rd Jul for the draw to be out. From what I understand, seeds 1 and 2 are in opposite halves, 3 and 4 will be decided by drawing of lots who go to which half. That means WYH and WX are not slated to meet until the final, and which half LXR and Saina will go to depend on the outcome of the draw.
I think WX could be in trouble without LXR in her half. Can't wait for the draw to see how the drama unfolds.
Tend to agree with you. The two of them in the same half can complement each other by covering their respective supposed weaknesses, WX for her inconsistency and LXR for her inexperience. WYH should be able to handle it by herself. That's the ideal draw for me.
I prefer WYH to be protected than WX. A Chinese WS can be guaranteed in the gold medal match at least. Again, no faith and confidence in WX to go that far with her bad form in individual competitions.
It would make Olympics even more exciting if WY and LXR are on the same half.... atleast other counries would then have real possibilities to win Gold + Bronze . & for China to just return with a silver...
The drawing of lots is always based on seeding which in turn is based on WR by a certain cut-off date, not based on player/country preference. To me,on this grandest stage of the Olympics, the most coveted and sought-after (not necessarily the most important or strongest in my opinion) all the top 8 to 10 players have a realistic chance to win gold. The top non-CHN contenders and medal pretenders will at most meet two CHN players who also tend to be more vulnerable on such a big occasion, so their chances here are higher than in the SS/SSP and WC which have more depth in strength and more CHN participants. Best of luck to everyone. In table-tennis, CHN is even more dominant, so much so that the German top gun Timo Boll has openly said his chances in the Olympics is highest for him at 50-50 because he need to face only two CHN players, unlike other championships where he usually faces at least 3 or 4 when even though he manages to beat a higher-ranked CHN player,say WR2, he may still lose to a lower-ranked CHN player WR7 when he himself was WR4 or 5 at that time(he was for a period as high as WR2). So I say to all the non-CHN Olympians, London is your best shot at winning a medal of any colour in a huge event, seize the golden opportunity,if not now then when. Wish you the best.
Whatever it is....The chinese final message before the tournament starts: Protect Wang Yihan at all cost and escort her to the Gold Medal Match. Biggest priority.
If I'm not wrong,at least those in Saina's group/side/quadrant will meet at most two, not in the group nor in the QF possibly. Certainly quite true in Saina's case. The picture should become clearer when the draw is out, a bit too early to speculate,you may be right in most cases.
One of the unknown players will perform beyond Expectation Remember Maria Kristin Yulianti? She came out of nowhere as unseeded player to defeat Baun, Schenk and Nehwal in a row to the semifinal. I have a feeling there is one unseeded player will exceed everyone's expectation. Could it be CSC, Ratchanok or Taiphoon? We will find out.
What I'm trying to say is, for the non-CHN players, winning the Olympics is easier than the SS/SSP and WC. On what basis? Two bases, first is the overall strength of the participants based on the composition of the players quality. Second, the immense pressure of the "team effect" similar to the Uber Cup where the Chinese players have proven to be more vulnerable than when playing purely individual events. That's why I say,to all the non-CHN players,have more confidence in yourself, they are much more nervous than you are, just go for it - who knows,you may be the one to create history for your nation. Why am I talking like that as a CHN fan? (You may be thinking sarcastically or even cynically, is this guy for real?) No.1, I'm quite confident one of the three CHN Flowers will win gold, WYH,LXR,WX in that order. No.2, so what if they don't? They've won so many titles that I've lost count. Not winning gold may be devastating for CHN but it in no way detract from their true greatness as a badminton superpower. No.3,as I've argued before,you don't wait every four years to decide who is the best player but take into account how many major titles she has won to attribute greatness, and the Olympic title is only one of it together with SS/SSP and WC. Otherwise, Ji Xinpeng, who won the Sydney 2000 gold and practically nothing else equivalent or near to it, would be considered a great player. No right or wrong answer here,simply my personal opinion.
