[Saba Sports News] Wang Shixian, a badminton world champion, shared photos of a dinner gathering with her former coach Zhang Ning and former teammates on social media.
In the pictures, Zhang Ning, two-time Olympic women’s singles badminton gold medalist, stands in the middle, surrounded by players she coached during her tenure as women’s team head coach, namely Wang Shixian, Wang Lin, Wang Xin, Jiang Yanjiao, Han Li and Suo Di. Surprisingly, none of these former elite players have put on weight and still look graceful and charming. Many fans said these familiar faces instantly took them back a decade ago. The gathering would have gathered all core women’s singles players from the London and Rio Olympic cycles if Li Xuerui and Wang Yihan had attended.
Among them, Zhang Ning, Wang Shixian, Wang Lin, Wang Xin and Jiang Yanjiao are all world champions, belonging to the golden generation of Chinese women’s badminton. None of them have stepped away from badminton after retirement. Wang Lin works as a coach at Zhejiang Badminton Team, Wang Xin serves as a badminton instructor domestically, and Wang Shixian teaches badminton in universities. They are all continuing to shine in different positions.
In my opinion, the long-awaited reunion of two generations of Chinese women’s badminton world champions is not only a heartwarming get-together across years, but also a vivid epitome of the spirit inheritance and era alternation of the Chinese women’s badminton team. This gathering evokes people’s collective memories of the glorious days of Chinese women’s badminton, and also shows the poised demeanor of retired athletes embarking on new life journeys.