Well, Li Shifeng just after being crowned the prestigious All England champion early this year and then all the way before the Asian Games, I have thought he is still a work in progress based on his tournament results not up to expectations thence. But now that he's succeeded impressively in earning for China both the coveted 19th Asian Games Team and Individual Golds and that by winning every match he played in style, I'm sure most of us are forced to see him in a different light. Without much ado, I shall let Li Shifeng's racquet do the talking henceforth. Without doubt, I believe we will be seeing more of him on the winners' podium going forward. Li Shifeng 李诗沣 Country China Born 9 January 2000 (age 23) Nanchang, Jiangxi, China Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Handedness Right Gold Medallist, 19th Asian Games All England Champion 2023 A New Star On The Horizon
The way I see it is that Li Shifeng, after his resounding victory at the Hangzhou Asian Games lifting both the individual and the team gold medals, highly coveted and prestigious, even more so for the host nation China, is still heady, on cloud nine and has yet to come down to earth. And, added to that, once you unwound from the high, it naturally takes quite a while to get back into business, let alone be fired up to perform one's best almost immediately (about nine days after) in the next top tier tournament, as what happened to him at the Denmark Open Super 750 event where he lost in the opening round. Well, let's see how he would fare in this week's French Open after having cleared his R1 opponent today, Zhao Junpeng, his fellow teammate by the identical score of 21-15 in straight games.
I noticed Li Shifeng is skipping the Super 500 Masters Japan event this week. Don't tell me he's sustained some sort of injury when he slipped and fell during the final of the French Open facing Jonathan Christie , not t o mentioned Team CHN also mostly skipped last week's Hylo Open, including him. If so, I'd suggest he - assuming it's to do with his nagging left toe problem for which he's been taking medical timeouts almost every other match he played - undergoes a thorough root cause treatment,perhaps with surgery, that requires him taking a short break from tournaments than to adopt a conservative therapy of letting it heal by itself over time which might take many months and risk being affected by it on and off. What if it happens at the wrong time and wrong place? I should think that as he is now world ranked 3,ahead of all his fellow teammates, he probably can afford to skip a couple of tournaments and still stay in the running for a place in the Paris '24 OG.
Chinese players tend to have issues with their foot, I recall SYQ had blister problems too, let’s hope LSF manage his issues right and peak for Paris, if it means missing the odd tournament, so be it.
With how close MS is, being ranked 3 is actually not that big of a deal compared to a few yrs back, u could lose ur ranking simply by skipping a tournament. Watch SYQ will surpass him again in the next tournament or two and the cycle will repeat. But it’s almost guaranteed that they both will go to the Olympics unless WHY or LGZ suddenly gets super on form
At the moment, I feel that Li Shifeng still lacks consistency, only able to play his very best badminton on inspiration. However, he's not a thinking player (not yet, at least) and, like the young Chen Long, too reliant on his physicality to get the better of his opponents. Specifically, I feel that he's mostly wanting in net play, almost amateurish - every time he plays a net, he instantly retreats as if the opponent will automatically lift for him to unleash his power smash (surely, he should be wiser than that, for example, that's how he was caught time and again by Lin Chun-i's tight net play at the MAS Open QF clash). Generally, he also lacks patience as he's usually the first to try and finish off the rallies with one fell swoop and often ended up worse off whenever his opponent is able to prolong the rally by getting most of the shots back (eg, his defeat to Koki Watanabe in R16 here at the IND Open).
That is what my main concern is with LSF, top tier players can self analyse situations during play where they are found wanting, If you can’t see where you’ve gone wrong and change things during play after your opponent has picked up on something, by the time you reach the interval and your coach give you the solution, it’s too late. I hope he doesn’t turn into another Chou Tien Chen, I hope not.
Chou Tien Chen is much smarter, a thinking player, very much on his own without a coach - that lady on courtside is not giving him any technical advice, her role is one of carer or caregiver, a motivator, a psychotherapist or sports psychologist, a counselor, a mentor, perhaps, even an admirer, an ardent fan and staunch supporter.
Ha!..that’s why discussions are good, I have different view of Chou Tien Chen, I always felt he looks lost , can’t think of strategy and bereft of ideas in his matches, a one trick pony who could really do with help of a coach to guide him. Yes, I know the role of Victoria plays in his set up, she’s doing a great job keeping him injury free.
