With this success at the Badminton Asia Championships 2022, I have a feeling the Chinese XD coach may be in a bit of a dilemma - should Huang Yaqiong-Zheng Siwei as a XD pair be split as planned or let them carry on until the next Olympics Paris 2024? Additionally, Huang Yaqiong's new partnership with Ou Xuanyi has yet to shine, although, to be fair, it' still too early to say how it'd work out as they have been together for only less than a couple of months. We'll see.
I think it's not too bad considering that they made it to two finals in a span of few months. The Ou/Huang pair has definitely got more potential than ZSW + 1 (apologies I forgot her name). I'm only curious to see if this pair will continue, moving forward.
Indeed, after today's showing by ZSW/HYQ winning the Thai Open'22 XD Final and taking into account their overall performance lately as a pair, the CHN XD coach and Zhang Jun will be hard put to split the two as announced recently in preparation for the next Olympic cycle. Might as well maintain the status quo.
Might be a bold statement from my end but I think it may not be their destiny to win Olympics Gold. Recent performances don’t exactly provide any assurance either. I’m quite certain they’ll win lots more Open titles though.
more like 95%. ssj/cyj beat them twice in a row. i do not believe zsw/hyq have ever lost twice in a row to anybody. definitely a shocking turn of events.
This year Huang and Zheng - This is quite possibly their most inconsistent year. Jan Malaysian Open champion against Yuta/Arisa 2-0 Jan India Open Runner up against Yuta/Arisa 0-2 Mar All England Runner up against Seo/Chae 1-2 April Asia Championships Runner up against Jiang/Wei 0-2 June Singapore Open Q/final against Kim/Jeong 0-2 June Indonesia Open Champion against Yuta/Arisa 2-0 July Korea Open Runner up against Jiang/Wei 0-2 July Japan Open semifinal against Yuta/Arisa 0-2 Aug World Championship Runner up against Seo/ Chae. 1-2 Sept China Open Q/final against Seo/Chae 1-2
Inconsistent, yes. But at least they are losing to pairs of high calibre. They're not randomly losing to some Tier 2 European pairs or something. I think it's nothing to worry about, really.
Honestly I think for Paris 2024, it would be a race to see whose form “deteriorates the least”. No top pair is on the rise. Even Seo/Chae, I don’t think their ceiling is much higher than they have already demonstrated.
I watched Gicquel/Delrue. These two can still improve. The pair to watch out for. They have the on court speed and can really pressure the opponents.
zsw/hyq not being the overwhelming favorite will make xd even more exciting and tense. i think many people thought they reached their ceiling last year. your ceiling doesn't matter as long as you're playing better than the competition in paris. and right now the koreans are playing the best.
