POLL – Will Li or a Wang be left behind?

Left to right: Li Xuerui, Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, Wang Shixian © Badmintonphoto

This month 172 players who have qualified for this summer’s Olympic badminton competition according to BWF rules will have their spots accepted or rejected by their national Olympic committees. While many teams have choices such as picking one qualifier from the top 89, two from the top 16, or two pairs from the top 8, none will be as close a call as China’s in the women’s singles event.

Not only is world #4 Li Xuerui on a four-tournament winning streak, but the Chinese coaches have a history of placing confidence in shuttlers who show promise and a winning attitude, sometimes selecting them over higher-ranked team-mates. Obviously, these are natural decisions for any coach but only the Chinese have to make these decisions so frequently, choosing among such highly-ranked, and highly-talented, athletes.

The recently-named Chinese Uber Cup team has all of the world’s top four, of course, but for the London Olympics, three must be chosen. The only quandary that comes close would be Japan having to select two women’s doubles pairs from among the world’s #3, #6, and #7. Unlike with Japan, however, China is selecting amongst four players with no Olympic experience. Only one has yet to reach world #1, only one has any likelihood of retiring before the next Olympics, and – surprisingly – only one has won a World Championship title.

Shown below is a brief run-down of China’s four top stars. After you vote, please let us know your thoughts in our comments section.

Wang Yihan (24): The current world #1, she is also the reigning World Champion. Last year, she won the Superseries Finals and she has won the All England and 12 other Superseries titles. She has only one title from three finals appearances so far this year.

Wang Xin (26): Currently world #2, Wang Xin was the silver medallist at the Asian Games and World Championships in 2010 and she has won a total of seven Superseries titles, including a run of three this past autumn. Since that 2011 Hong Kong Open win, however, she has not won a title and has reached only one final this year.

Wang Shixian (22): The current world #3 won the Asian Games gold in 2010 and the Superseries Finals for the same year. She has won seven Superseries titles but only one this year and she has reached one other final in 2012.

Li Xuerui (21): A relative newcomer to the top echelon, Li Xuerui won her first international tournament, the Badminton Asia Championships, in 2010 and since then six more Grand Prix Gold-level events. Her first Superseries title was at this year’s All England, which she followed up with a second, the India Open, both part of a five-title run. Her current ranking of world #4 is her career best so far.

[poll id=”15″]