Wang Yihan

Wang Yihan (born 18 January 1988) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player and former women's singles world champion and Olympic silver medalist. Wang started her career with her coach Wang Pengren at only nine years of age. She was selected for the junior team in 2004, and after being promoted to the senior team in 2006 she began to shine in major tournaments. By October 2009 she was the top ranked Women's singles player in the world.

Career

2004–2006

Wang was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Asian Junior Championships. She was also a quarterfinalist in the same year's World Junior Championships where she lost to Korean Ha Jung-eun. In 2005, she won the silver medal in Asian Junior Championships where she lost to her teammate Wang Lin in final. In 2006, she won both Asian Junior Championships & World Junior Championships with her win against Malaysian Lyddia Cheah & Indian Saina Nehwal respectively. She earned a spotlight in World's elite badminton when she won the 2006 Badminton World Cup which included her win against reigning Olympic champion Zhang Ning in semifinal and 2–times reigning world champion Xie Xingfang in final, both wins in just 2 games.

2007–2008

In 2007, she won 3 titles, In the 2007 Summer Universiade, she beat Taipei's Cheng Shao-chieh to win the gold medal. She also won the Bitburger Open & Russian Open Grand Prix Gold that year. In 2008 she started year with finishing runner-up at the German Open losing to Jun Jae-youn. Then won her first superseries title, the Japan Open by beating leading player from Hongkong Zhou Mi with 21–19, 17–21, 21–15 scores. However, she didn't qualify for participation in 2008 Olympics, as her highest achieving teammates and senior players Xie Xingfang, Zhang Ning & Lu Lan had already confirmed their places from China.

2009

Yihan was at her prime in this year, she won the  Yonex German Open competition against fellow countrywoman  Zhu Lin, and just one week later, at the age of 21, the prestigious  All-England Championships against Denmark's Tine Rasmussen. Wang then went on to win the  Wilson Swiss Open against compatriot Jiang Yanjiao. Yihan was the bronze medallist at the Asian Championships where she gone down fighting against Olympic silver medallist Xie Xingfang in semifinal.
Having already won against both the Olympic champion and runner-up (Zhang Ning & Xie Xingfang) in past tournaments, she also defeated the Olympic bronze medallist Indonesia's Maria Kristin Yulianti in the group stage of 2009 Sudirman Cup with a thumping performance 16–21, 21–5, 21–10. Wang, seeded 4th at the World Championships, was upset by 11th seed Germany's Juliane Schenk in 2nd round in straight games. Wang won the Macau Open time in August 2009 when she again beat Jiang Yanjiao. In September 2009, Wang defended her YONEX Japan Open title by crushing Wang Xin (21–8, 21–9) in just 29 minutes. She lost the only final of 2009 against Tine Rasmussen in Denmark Super Series in a hard-fought match. Although she lost the final, she reached to the top position in the Women's singles rankings, when rankings were updated next week. Wang then won the 2009 French Super Series in November when she emphatically beat top seed, and defending champion, Wang Lin (21–9, 21–12). Wang won her second title in a row, and her fifth BWF Super Series tournament of the year, when she beat Jiang Yanjiao again, this time in the Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open. This was also her seventh title overall in 2009.

2010

Yihan was looking to defend her All England Open title but was beaten by Tine Rasmussen in a repeat final of last year clash, in a very close match or 3 games. Just like the last year, Yihan again lost early in the BWF World Championships, losing to Japanese Eriko Hirose in 2nd round. She won her first title of the year by beating Liu Xin in the final of 2010 Denmark Super Series. Then won 2nd consecutive title by winning the 2010 French Super Series event with her win against another compatriot, Li Xuerui. In the 2010 BWF Super Series Finals, Yihan was seeded 2nd. She won all her group stage encounters, with win against Petya Nedelcheva, Tine Baun & Yip Pui Yin. But, in the semifinal, she got a shock defeat against Korean player Bae Yeon-ju, in 3 well contested games stretching over an hour.

2011

In 2011, she reached the final of 2011 Malaysia Super Series but lost to Wang Shixian. Next week in Korean Open final, she turned the tables and defeated Shixian. She won the gold medal in the 2011 Badminton Asia Championships by winning against Lu Lan. She made a superb comeback against Saina Nehwal in the final of 2011 Indonesia Super Series Premier when she edged through a close 2nd game to win it 12–21, 23–21, 21–14. Continuing her best form, she defeated Gu Juan, Ratchanok Intanon, Pi Hongyan & Wang Xin to reach the final of BWF World Championships. She won the gold medal, beating Cheng Shao-chieh with a big win & continued Chinese supremacy in Women's singles category. To be noted, Chinese women singles players had swept all the titles since 2000. She then won the Japan open title for 3rd consecutive time, with win over Juliane Schenk. She lost to her teammate Wang Xin for the first time, in the final of 2011 Denmark Super Series Premier hence failed to defend her title. In the final of 2011 China Open, her opponent was Wang Xin again, but Xin retired when Yihan was 18–12 up in 1st game, thus Yihan won the title. With a successful year yet again, she was looking for her first Year end title. In the 2011 BWF Super Series Finals, she lost to Sung Ji-hyun but won other 2 matches against Juliane Schenk & Tine Baun hence qualified for semifinal. She again won over Wang Xin, and set her match against India's Saina Nehwal. She won 18–21, 21–13, 21–13 and won the title.

2012

She won Malaysia Super Series title with a comprehensive win over Wang Xin. In her 3rd All England Open final, she lost to new beaming Chinese star Li Xuerui in just 2 games. She failed to defend her Asian title with a defeat from the hands of Li Xuerui in final, thus settled for silver medal. Going into the 2012 London Olympics as a top seed, she was overwhelming favorite to win the title. In the 2nd round, she beat Bae Yeon-ju in 3 games, Cheng Shao-chieh (2–0) in quarter-finals & Saina Nehwal in semifinals also in 2 games. Her opposition in the final was from Li Xuerui again. Li took opening game 21–15 but Wang's hardwork stretched the match to the 3rd game by winning 23–21 in second. Li again proved fatal for her and won the 3rd game 21–17, and won the Olympic title, leaving Wang in despair. Hence she had to settle for yet another silver medal. Wang Yihan won the 2012 China Masters Super Series by beating a familiar rival Jiang Yanjiao. Her losing streak against Li Xuerui continued, this moment in the final of 2012 Hong Kong Super Series where Wang retired in the mid of 2nd game while trailing 12–21, 3–11. Being injured, she didn't contested the master finals of the year end, where she was the champion last year.

2013

In 2013, she regained German Open title with winning against Juliane Schenk. She became Asian champion for the 2nd time, by mastering Li Xuerui, hence overcame her after 5 consecutive losses last year. She again defeated Li Xuerui, this time in the final of 2013 Singapore Super Series. She was the defending champion of World Championships, but lost in 2nd round itself to young Indian teenager, P. V. Sindhu. She won the 2013 Denmark Super Series Premier