Editor's note:
In the just-concluded Uber Cup semi-finals, the Chinese women's badminton team lost 2-3 to the not-so-top-level Thai team. They were stopped in the top four, creating their worst record in 34 years. Previously, Chinese women's badminton has never fallen out of the finals in this biennial world-class competition. This also means that the performance of Chinese women's badminton has reached its lowest point since participating in the Uber Cup in 1984.
In fact, the failure of the Chinese women's feathers was not accidental, but in fact there were hidden dangers early on. In recent years, Chinese women's badminton has suffered setbacks one after another: it has repeatedly lost gold in the Olympic Games, World Championships, Sudirman Cup, and Uber Cup. A series of results in the past two or three years show that the current Chinese women's badminton is very similar to the historical low point 24 years ago, and the overall results are even worse.
Since the Rio Olympics, the fact that the Chinese badminton team is aging and has no talent has become even more obvious, and there have been constant turmoil on and off the court. What exactly is Guoyu's problem?
2018 Uber Cup semi-finals: China vs Thailand Chen Yufei plays in the women’s singles according to the visual China
Once the king of world badminton, now it has fallen from the altar
In 1984, the Chinese women’s badminton team participated in the Uber Cup competition for the first time, and stood on the top After winning the championship podium, the Chinese team became the predetermined candidate for the finals in the sixteen Uber Cup journeys. The worst result was to finish second. However, at the 27th Thomas and Uber Cup held last week, the Chinese team lost 2-3 in the Uber Cup semifinals to the not-top-level Thai team, setting its worst record in the 34 years of participating in the Uber Cup. . The once king of world badminton has now fallen from the throne. What happened to the Chinese women's team? Although
went to Bangkok with the title of defending champion, public opinion has long concluded that the Chinese women's team has little hope of winning the Cup again, because this year, the Chinese women's singles and women's doubles have continued to show a sluggish state, and no one can compete in the three singles positions. With the absolute ability to score, a pair of Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan encountered bottlenecks, and the second pair was not a pair that could be fixed. However, at that time, everyone generally believed that the biggest obstacle to the Chinese team's pace to win the championship was It’s just a well-balanced Japanese team.
However, after arriving at the competition venue on the outskirts of Bangkok, except for the 5-0 victory over France in the first game of the group stage, the Chinese team has never had smooth sailing. In the second game of the group stage, they faced Malaysia. Chen Yufei almost lost in one single. Shan He Bingjiao suffered the first defeat of the Chinese team in the Thomas and Uber Cup; in the third group match against Indonesia , the second single and third single Gao Fangjie and Li Xuerui lost one after another. China won 3-2 with difficulty and won the group. First.
Originally, the Chinese team got a good draw in the knockout round, but in the quarter-finals they faced the Danish team, which was short of major generals and whose overall strength was compromised. Chen Yufei was defeated on his first appearance, although he eventually advanced to the semi-finals. , but facing the host team Thailand, the Chinese team actually lost in all three singles positions, causing the team to lose 2 to 3 and miss the Uber Cup final for the first time.
Is the plummeting of the women's team in the Uber Cup an accident? Of course not. In fact, the decline of the Chinese badminton women's string has begun to show signs of decline since the Rio Olympics. Although the Chinese badminton team won five gold medals at the London Olympics and was in the limelight for a while, after the Rio Olympics cycle, the Chinese women's singles and women's doubles began to decline. In the three World Championships during the Rio Olympic cycle, China has not won a single championship in women's singles. However, fortunately, the women's doubles has always maintained its advantage, firmly holding the gold medal in its hands, and supporting half of the sky for the women's team.
May 24, 2018, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018 Uber Cup quarter-finals, China vs Denmark. Chen Yufei
However, at the Rio Olympics, China's women's singles and women's doubles missed the finals respectively, setting the worst performance in the history of the Chinese badminton team since participating in the Olympics. The final face of the national badminton team was won by men's singles Chen Long and men's doubles. The champions Zhang Nan and Fu Haifeng are supporting them. After the Rio Olympics, the problems of the Chinese women's team began to explode. If the results and performances of a series of international open competitions did not attract attention, then the loss of the Sudirman Cup last May completely exposed the problems of the women's team to the table.
In the five games from the group stage to the finals on the Gold Coast, the women's singles appeared four times. In the most critical semi-finals and finals, Sun Yu and He Bingjiao lost one after another. The women's doubles also appeared four times. In the final against the South Korean team In the life-or-death final, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan played for the fourth time. They failed to help the Chinese team, which was already leading 2-1, seal the victory. Instead, they were tied by their opponents, which directly led to the final 2-3 defeat of the Chinese team.
In the Soviet Cup finals, the women's singles and women's doubles lost points one after another. This is already a reflection of the overall strength of the women's team. It means starting over from scratch. In the World Championships a few months later, there was some progress. ——Chen Yufei reached the semi-finals. Although she failed to go further, her ability to advance to the semi-finals in her first World Championships also gave people hope. The women's doubles Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan successively defeated famous players to win the championship and began to establish their own advantages.
However, the glimmer of hope at the World Championships was short-lived. From the end of last year to the Thomas and Uber Cup this year, the women's singles still had not achieved a breakthrough. The two main players, Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao, were still unable to make great progress. Gao Fangjie Younger players like Chen Xiaoxin and Chen Xiaoxin also failed to really shine. As for the status of Li Xuerui, who has returned from injury, it is still unknown. The women's doubles Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan are ranked No. 1 in the world but have not been able to win more games. The world's number one ability was shown during the game, and none of the other women's doubles pairs were able to reach the world-class level.
It was under such a situation that the Chinese team went to the Uber Cup. There was no rebound, but there was no retreat. Under the attack of internal and external troubles, the women's team was defeated.
May 21, 2018, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018 Uber Cup group stage, China vs France. Huang Dongping. Picture according to Visual China
Internal worries are the fundamental reason why the women’s team was defeated in the Uber Cup, or the women’s team lost its long-standing advantage. This is also related to issues left over from history - after the Rio Olympics, Li Xuerui underwent surgery and recuperation due to injury, Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian chose to retire, and the sudden abdication of "two kings and one Li" made Chinese women A vacuum suddenly formed. Among them, Sun Yu was the only player who had experience in competitions. The other players, Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao, who had quickly become the main force of the first team, were all mentioned at once when there was no transition period. Come up.
In fact, according to the ages of Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, they can definitely persist a little longer. The former was 28 years old when he retired, and the latter was only 26 years old. Compared with Zhang Ning, who is now the women's singles coach, she only won the World Championships at the age of 28. The women's singles champion became the Olympic champion at the age of 29, and successfully won the title again at the age of 33. Wang Yihan and Wang Shixian, on the one hand, did not want to persist due to physical reasons, and on the other hand, they were unwilling to stay here because they had never been able to achieve better results. arena.
Internal worries: Their departure has caused the Chinese women's singles to be broken.
Their departure has caused the Chinese women's singles to be broken. Without the old players to support them, Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao can only perform without reaching the level of strength. They were thrust into the limelight at the main force level. However, they did not get more training and opportunities before they really started to play the leading role after the Rio Olympics. I wonder how many people knew about them before Rio. name?
Even though high-level competitions can greatly train people, there is no step-by-step process. Participating in high-level competitions is amplified from the beginning. Young players are obviously not mentally prepared. Although the opportunity has come, but The opportunity is a little late for them - if they get more training before the Rio Olympics, then they probably won't be "blind" after the veterans retire, or the opportunity comes a little earlier for them - —After all, I’m not physically and mentally prepared yet.
In this situation where you want to push back the growth, it is particularly important to provide strong guidance and support to young players. Although the coaching staff and scientific research team of the Chinese team can be said to be the strongest in the world, we have to admit that from Judging from the abilities displayed by Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, Sun Yu and others, the technical and tactical play of the Chinese women's singles is already lagging behind.
Women's style of play is masculine. This is a trend that started in the world's women's singles at least two Olympic cycles ago. The Chinese women's singles had such abilities before. Li Xuerui in his heyday was fast and explosive, and his offense was quite fierce. Wang Yihan during the London Olympics cycle also had a domineering attitude. Wang Shixian during the same period had exquisite skills and was a representative of technical flow. At that time, the Chinese women's singles playing style was rich.
At the same time, foreign famous players have also made great efforts to masculine women's playing style. Rio Olympic champion and runner-up Marin and Sindhu are the most typical representatives. Today's Akane Yamaguchi , Nozomi Okuhara, , and Intanon are not typical power players, but they have rich offensive methods, especially the two main Japanese players, Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara, are both less than 1.55 meters tall, regardless of their talents and abilities. , even with such a height, I am afraid that he will not be able to knock on the door of the Chinese team.
Compared with the current few small flowers in China, it seems that apart from pulling the strings or pulling the strings, they have already fallen behind at the technical and tactical level. Judging from the current performance, players of the younger generation such as Chen Yufei are obviously not the type that Gong Zhichao had back then who had the talent and aura to let God reward them. However, hard work can make up for weakness. Compared with Zhang Ning, who was a late bloomer, the younger generation really needs to find something in themselves. Find the problem.
Once upon a time, Zhang Ning endured severe knee pain to complete training and treatment on the eve of the 2008 Uber Cup: "Sometimes the pain was so painful that I couldn't sleep. I did 12 groups of running, and I really started running when I reached the 6th group. I couldn’t move anymore, my body was tired, my mind was tired, and I felt it was too hard, but I had no choice but to persevere. I gritted my teeth and ran through the next few groups with tears in my eyes. I finished all the exercises crying.”
Times have changed. Today's athletes born after 1995 cannot achieve the tenacity of Zhang Ning. The coach also said, "Today's athletes are different from before. We all have to pay attention to the way of communication." What was your performance after losing? Let’s first look at what Li Xuerui said after losing in the third single position in the semi-finals - “This was the worst game I played in my career. I failed the coach’s trust in me and the entire team. There is no excuse for expecting me, it’s just that my skills are not as good as others.”
Li Xuerui took all the responsibilities on his own, while the other young players who lost said: “After losing the first game, the second game was over. I relaxed, the opponent was too fast..." This is a semi-final where success or failure determines the hero. In such a crucial competition, would you relax after winning one game instead of pursuing the victory? In terms of psychological quality, pressure resistance, on-the-spot response, effort level, and teamwork, young players probably still have a lot to learn and strengthen.
Through this year's Cup, the hidden dangers of women's singles have been completely exposed. It seems that the performance of women's doubles is pretty good? However, the women's doubles is only unsatisfactory. Although it performed well in this Cup, there were a series of international competitions in the previous cup. Sui , Zhao Yunlei and Tian Qing have absolute advantages in different periods. In the current women's doubles, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifangui are the world's number one. Although their performance this time is solid, in the long term, they There are quite a lot of ups and downs, and there is no absolute ability to see all the small mountains at a glance. More importantly, apart from Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, the Chinese team does not yet have a fixed pair of double-doubles and triple-doubles to form a group advantage. If it wants to occupy a more favorable position in the world of women's doubles, the women's doubles also It’s not that it looks bland and breezy.
Pictures According to Visual China
Foreign troubles: The Japanese team has replaced the Chinese team’s dominance
Apart from these internal troubles, foreign troubles are also a major factor in the decline of the Chinese team. If you don’t advance, you will retreat. When others are working hard to move forward, you will naturally make no progress. It has been abandoned behind. If the Thai team that defeated the Chinese team is just a new force in the world of women's badminton, then the Japanese team, which won the cup again after 37 years, has completely replaced the Chinese team's dominance.
only lost two games on the road to winning the championship. Needless to say, the strength of the Japanese team. In fact, starting from the Rio Olympics, the Japanese team has gradually surpassed the Chinese team. In the Rio Olympics, Takahashi Ayaka and Matsutomo Misaki were the best players for Japan. The team won the first badminton Olympic gold medal in history. At the 2017 Badminton World Championships, Nozomi Okuhara won the Women's Singles World Championship for Japan for the first time. The simultaneous advancement of women's singles and women's doubles gradually brought the Japanese team to the top.
The current Japanese team that won the Uber Cup, the first two main players Yamaguchi Akane and Okuhara Nozomi are both world-class. Among the top 17 in the world, Japanese women's singles occupy five seats, and the world's women's doubles ranks among the top five. The Japanese team has three pairs of players, and the strength of the Japanese team was accumulated step by step through the youth training program that began during the Beijing Olympics cycle.
The Chinese team failed in the semi-finals, and if the Chinese team can advance to the Cup finals, it will have no hope of facing the Japanese team. It may not be able to reach five sets at all, and the loss will be even more embarrassing. It is undeniable that the Japanese team has completely surpassed and replaced China and has become the new generation hegemon in the world's women's badminton. The Chinese team has a long way to go to regain its advantage.
Of course, the Chinese team is not without hope of making a comeback, and this requires the entire coaching staff and every player to truly realize the current problems and really think of ways to change them. It is not without such examples - 2010 The situation at that time and now is quite similar. Both were the first Uber Cup after the Olympic Games. In the former, young players such as Wang Yihan, Ma Jin, and Wang Xiaoli began to take the lead after Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang and other famous players retired. However, in the finals, facing the overall The South Korean team, which was inferior to itself, lost 1-3.
However, after the Chinese team lost the Cup in 2010, it never let the champion fall by the wayside in the three games, and the main players in these three games were Wang Yihan, Wang Shixian and others who lost the Cup at that time. They experienced the taste of failure when they were just starting out in the competition, but it allowed them to grow quickly and accumulate a lot of experience. Now that the Chinese women's team has experienced double defeats in the Soviet Cup and the You Cup, can we look forward to your comeback?
Special reporter of Chengdu Commercial News Li Ting
Editor Guan Li
