As K Srikanth and PV Sindhu grabbed plenty of headlines and titles during a remarkable 2017 season for Indian badminton, there was one shocking statistic that stood out. Not a single Superseries title was won by a women’s singles player from China, while only Lin Dan and Chen Long (one title each) managed to win men’s singles titles. It was seen as the year that heralded a new year in world badminton, with the end of Chinese domination never more pronounced.
With seven different women’s singles player winning Superseries titles, the fact that not one of them was from China was, to some extent, due to the absence of a certain Li Xuerui - one of the most successful players of this era.
You might remember her from the 2012 Olympics, standing on the top of the podium when Nehwal won a historic bronze for India. You might also remember her from the 2016 Olympics, where she could barely stand towards the end of her semi-final against Carolina Marin. She finished that match somehow, in a defeat that signalled a major power shift in badminton at the Olympics level, but wasn’t fit enough to play the bronze medal match against Nozomi Okuhara.
That was the last badminton action for Li for nearly two years, as it emerged that she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and also had injured her lateral meniscus in that defeat to Marin. She returned to serious badminton action last month – after 600 days – and won the title at BWF Tour’s Lingshui China Masters, one of the lower rung events on the calendar.
The star shuttler has now been summoned to bolster China’s Uber Cup defence, as she continues with her comeback. The 27-year-old was part of the famous ‘Big Three’ (along with Wang Shixian and Wang Yihan), who dominated badminton for so long and she is all set to feature as the fourth women’s singles player behind Chen Yufei, He Bingjiao, and Gao Fangjie - the current top three Chinese women shuttlers.
China have been drawn in Group D with France, Indonesia and Malaysia, and a young squad have a lot of expectations to live up to, as the team has reached every final they have contested since 1984, and winning the Uber Cup trophy a record 14 times.
But in Li, there is a veteran with plenty of experience making a return, to guide the youngsters along.