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.

Yihan 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 the 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 the World elite badminton where she won the 2006 Badminton World Cup, winning against reigning Olympic champion, Zhang Ning in the semifinal, and 2–times reigning world champion Xie Xingfang in the final; both wins in just 2 games.

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 the year by finishing runner-up at the German Open, losing to Jun Jae-youn.

Yihan then won her first super-series 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 ro participate in the 2008 Olympics, as her highest achieving teammates and senior players Xie Xingfang, Zhang Ning & Lu Lan had already confirmed their places from China.

By October 2009 she was the top ranked Women's singles player in the world.

Yihan was at her prime in 2009, as 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.

Yihan then went on to win the Wilson Swiss Open against compatriot Jiang Yanjiao.

Yihan was the bronze medallist at the Asian Championships where she went down fighting against Olympic silver medallist Xie Xingfang in the semifinal.

Having already won against both the Olympic champion and runner-up, Zhang Ning & Xie Xingfang, in past tournaments, she defeated the Olympic bronze medallist, Indonesia's Maria Kristin Yulianti in the group stage of the 2009 Sudirman Cup with a 16–21, 21–5, 21–10 performance.

Yihan won the Macau Open in August 2009 when she again beat Jiang Yanjiao.

In September 2009, Yihan defended her YONEX Japan Open title by crushing Wang Xin (21–8, 21–9) in just 29 minutes.

She lost the final of 2009 against Tine Rasmussen in Denmark Super Series in a hard-fought match.

Although she lost the final, she reached the top position in the Women's singles rankings.

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.

Yihan was looking to defend her All England Open title but was beaten by Tine Rasmussen in a repeat final of the previous year's clash, in a very close match or 3 games.

Just like the previous 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.

She then won 2nd consecutive title by winning the 2010 French Super Series event, against 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 surprising defeat against Korean player Bae Yeon-ju,in 3 contested games stretching over an hour.

Yihan, seeded 4th at the World Championships, was upset by 11th seed, Germany's Juliane Schenk in the 2nd round in straight games.

In 2011, she reached the final of the 2011 Malaysia Super Series but lost to Wang Shixian.

The following in the 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.

Yihan made a superb comeback against Saina Nehwal in the 2011 Indonesia Super Series Premier final, when she edged through a close 2nd game to win it 12–21, 23–21, 21–14.

Continuing in 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 and continued the Chinese supremacy in the Women's single category.