CHINA MASTERS Finals - Well, Which Wang Won?

The recent surge of Wang’s in the Chinese women’s singles team will no doubt cause much confusion to many (except the Chinese themselves of course). With the unveiling of Wang Yihan and Wang Lin last year immediately after the 2008 Olympic Games, the two Wang’s have already been sweeping titles since but before the non-Chinese public can get their names sorted out, ‘Wang’ the third has swept a Super Series title.

By Jan Lin, Badzine Correspondent. Photos: China Foto Press (live)

Having dispossessed the current poster girl of Chinese badminton, Wang Yihan, in the quarter-final, the unseeded Wang Shixian (pictured left) removed 2nd-seeded Wang Lin in 3 games of 21-14 in the final. Like a true blue youth playing in her bright-coloured ankle socks, the 19-year-old Wang Shixian was a bronze medalist in the girls’ singles event at the World Junior Championships last year won by India’s wonder Saina Nehwal.

“Wang Shixian has better net techniques than I do,” admitted a collected Wang Lin, who was crowned runner-up at the China Masters for the second year running. “It's not a surprise loss for me today as it is never easy to play against a teammate. It goes down to the little things that will separate us. The quality of her net retrievals obviously contributed to my defeat today. I admit I lost out to her at the net.”

Wang Shixian, who has been dubbed the “darkest” horse by China’s head coach Li Yongbo, said, "I guess I'm slightly younger and that gives me a psychological advantage over the rest, all I have to think about is giving my best. Besides, I've had very systematic training prior to the competition, which has helped to sustain my level of play, on top of having some luck and the psychological advantage I hold.”

"My current goal is to get onto the national first team though I'm aware that there is still a distance to go from where I currently am to where the first team players are at,” admitted Wang, who is currently still a second-stringer in the national team. Li Yongbo later clarified that Wang is still a “second stringer” purely due to her age and not because her skills are not on par with the senior members of the team.

“Judging from this tournament, I guess we can safely say that Wang Shixian is assured of a first team spot,” revealed Li Yongbo, “because even if she hadn’t won this tournament, she needn’t worry about competing to make the first team. In fact, for Wang Shixian, one can already anticipate the competition she would be facing is against the first team players for a place in the 2012 London Olympic Games.”

Indeed, the age difference between the 2007 World Junior Champion Wang Lin and Wang Shixian is but one year and between the 20-year-old Wang Lin and the 2006 World Junior Champion Wang Yihan is also just one year. Lu Lan, who has been crowned World Champion recently, is only a year older than Wang Yihan as well. These 4 ladies would currently be the best bet for the (maximum) 4 Olympic spots.

The current overcrowding effect can be attributed to the change of the bi-annual World Junior Championships to an annual event since 2006, which has allowed countries with a broad base of talents like (and perhaps only) China to groom a World Junior Champion every year. The problem therein is that it is a lot more expensive to maintain a senior player than a junior player, so only the fittest will survive.

Does anyone even remember that Zhu Lin was crowned World Champion just two short years ago?

The current 'annual system' in both the junior and senior stages has appeared to have inevitably forced the fate of an athlete as just another commodity – painstakingly groomed to win the World Junior title for national honour then left alone to fight for survival thereafter. With that then, it shouldn't come as a surprise if another wave of Chinese-migration hits the sport.

For complete results from the 2009 Li Ning China Masters Super Series, please CLICK HERE

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