Four years after a clean sweep of gold medals out of five numbers badminton at the 2012 London Olympics the Chinese contingent is only able to maintain two medals in the last Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the men's singles (Chen Long) and doubles (Zhang Nan / Fu Haifeng).
But Li Yongbo badminton brags that China will never be afraid to pass through the transition from the golden generation to the younger generation. "Sometimes you're strong, you sometimes have to decline," Li told Reuters.
Moreover, three of their senior players will probably be retired before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was held. Fu Haifeng, who in 2012 also won the doubles gold medal but together Cai Yun. Plus legend Chinese men's singles, Lin Dan has certainly not strengthen the Bamboo Curtain country again at the Games of the nations of the world the next four years.
Being one that predicted also going retiree before Tokyo 2020 is Zhao Yunlei. He won the gold medal with Zhang Nan mixed doubles and women's doubles gold medal with Tian Qing in London 2012. But in Rio in 2016, this 29 years player just caught the bronze medal with Zhang Nan mixed doubles.
"Indonesia used to be strong and so is Denmark. Then the Chinese have improved, but a number of our champion retired players and the next generation appears rather slow. So there will always be difficulties and this is normal, "he added.
Men's doubles bronze medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics along with Tian Bingyi was further explained: "But China will still have a top-class player in the future because we have many players who competed at the junior high level. After this Games (Rio 2016), our next generation will be strong. For countries that want to maintain their advantage, definitely need to emphasize the development of systemic talent and excellent training system. China has it, so I'm not worried about the future. "
