China

New leader to emerge from young guns

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-24 09:00

SHANGHAI: Although a group of young Chinese women badminton players have dominated the courts since the retirement of veterans Zhang Ning and Xie Xingfang, the national head coach says a real leader of the squad won't emerge until about a year before the 2012 London Olympic Games.

"The London Games is still three years away so to decide on a leader right now is not good for the team," said Li Yongbo. "The players are still quite young. A group of six or seven players has emerged as (leadership) candidates and in two years time they will be more mature. I am sure in 2011 we will find the right one to take over the roles of Zhang and Xie as the new backbone of the team."

Former world No 1s Zhang and Xie rarely played after last year's Beijing Olympic Games, however a stellar group of youngsters has seamlessly replaced them, including the world's current top two players, Wang Yihan and Wang Lin, reigning world champion Lu Lan, 2005 National Games champion Jiang Yanjiao, 2009 Malaysia Open champion Wang Shixian and 2009 Philippine Open Grand Prix champion Wang Xin. All are about 20 years old.

"We started to build up the reserve women's team in 2006 and those young players can be divided into two types - all-round and aggressive they play different roles in competitions," Li said.

"At present, all of them are at the world's top level and can beat other elite players, which is good for the team. But it's too early to predict who will be the real leader at the London Games as they are still young."

Consistency is Li's main concern and he admits it will be hard to find an outstanding female to mirror the talent of men's singles player, Lin Dan, the reigning Olympic and world champion.

"There is only one Lin in the world and it will difficult to find one on the women's side," Li said, before adding: "the competition among these young women will be fierce over the next couple of years."