Xuerui going all out to make Olympic cut
WORLD No. 2 Li Xuerui is pulling out all the stops to make sure she gets the chance to defend her Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro this August.
The Chongqing native is ranked sixth in the Olympics race. But such is China’s strength in women’s singles that Wang Shixian (world No. 3) and Wang Yihan (No. 5) are ahead of her in the Olympic ranking list.
With every country only eligible to send a maximum of two shuttlers to the Olympics, Xuerui knows she has her work cut out for her to overtake her team-mates.
“I’m still hoping tomake the cut for the Olympics,” said Xuerui.
“All three of us are very close in points and we’re going all out to score enough points before the qualifying period ends (on May 1).
“I did not get off to a good start in the qualifying race because I was not in the best form last year due to a couple of injuries. It’s also not easy compared to four years ago because women’s singles has become so competitive ... there are so many young players from all over the world who are improving fast.
“I took some time out after last season to work on my fitness and I’m definitely in a much better shape now.”
Xuerui, a two-time World Championships runner-up, has had a positive start to the year – winning the German Open and finishing as runner-up in the Indian Open last week.
Her work on improving her fitness also seems to be paying off as she came through a fast-and-furious 25-minute first-round win over Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the Celcom Axiata Malaysian Open.
The 2014 champion eased her way to a 21-11, 21-11 win and will face Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying in the second round.