Wang Shixian (; ; born 13 February 1990) is a retired Chinese professional
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
player. She is a former World No. 1 in women's singles.
Career
Wang Shixian was admitted into Chinese Junior National Team in 2005 and was soon promoted to the second-level adult team a year later, but she got the chance to compete in the international stages only in 2009, after being promoted to the first-level adult team.
2007–2009
Wang participated in
2007 BWF World Junior Championships
The 2007 BWF World Junior Championships was an international badminton tournament held in Waitakere City, New Zealand.
The team competition was held from 25 to 28 October, and the individual events were from 30 October to 4 November 2007.
Medali ...
being unseeded. She lost to
Bae Yeon-ju there in straight games. In 2008, she won a silver medal in
2008 Asian Junior Badminton Championships, after losing to
Li Xuerui, her compatriot. She also won a bronze medal in
2008 BWF World Junior Championships losing the semifinal to eventual winner
Saina Nehwal.
In 2009, she stunned several seeded players in
Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold, including former world champion
Zhu Lin in the second round, and reached the final. By beating her teammate
Wang Xin there, she won her career's first-ever title. She won her first superseries title by winning
2009 China Masters Super Series in which she beat a series of strong rivals on her way, including no. 4 seed
Wang Yihan in quarter-final, reigning world champion
Lu Lan
Lu Lan (; born 2 May 1987) is a badminton player from China.
Career
In 2004, she won the Polish Open. In 2006, she won the Korea Open and finished the year in the 5th position in the BWF World Ranking.
In 2007, she won the Denmark Super Se ...
in semis, and no. 2 seeded
Wang Lin in the final.
2010–2011
Wang won 2 superseries titles this year, first one was
2010 Korea Open Super Series, where she beat
Sung Ji-hyun
Sung Ji-hyun (; born 29 July 1991) is a South Korean badminton player from Seoul. She is an Badminton Asia Championships, Asian Championship gold medalist, a two-time Badminton at the Summer Universiade, Summer Universiade gold medalist, and a ...
in the final and another one was the
2010 Swiss Super Series event, by beating
Jiang Yanjiao of China.
In the
2010 BWF World Championships, she defeated
Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final and assured herself of the first ever major medal in her career. She settled for a bronze medal after losing the semifinal to
Wang Xin with 19–21, 21–11, 16–21. She savoured her career's biggest ever success by winning the gold medal in the
2010 Asian games
The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...
, beating her recent nemesis Wang Xin in the final with 21–18, 21–15 scores. She had runner-up finishes at the
2010 China Open Super Series &
2010 Hong Kong Super Series events also later in the year.
In 2011, Wang took part in the
2010 BWF Super Series Finals. In the group stage, she defeated
Yao Jie,
Salakjit Ponsana
Salakjit Ponsana (; , born 14 February 1984) is a Thai retired badminton player. She competed in the women's singles event at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her brother, Boonsak Ponsana is also a Thai olympian.
Career
Ponsana pla ...
&
Bae Yeon-ju in straight games. With her group victories, she advanced to the semifinal where she met Hong Kong's
Yip Pui Yin
Yip Pui Yin (; born 6 August 1987) is a badminton player from Hong Kong.
Career
Yip played at the 2005 World Badminton Championships in Anaheim. In the women's singles event she reached the third round after beating Laura Molina of Spain an ...
and beat her in 2 games. Her opponent for the final was
Bae Yeon-ju, whom Shixian defeated earlier in the group stage. This time too, Wang beat her, with 21–13, 21–15 scores and claimed the title victory which helped her to reach the World no. 1 position for the first time after ranks were updated next week. She then won the
2011 Malaysia Super Series after securing a stunning victory against
Wang Yihan. Only after a week, she lost to same opponent Wang Yihan in the final of
2011 Korea Super Series. She claimed her first ever All England crown with her fascinating victory over Japan's
Eriko Hirose in the final of
2011 All England Super Series with 24–22, 21–18 scoreline. She was seeded top in the
2011 BWF World Championships where she was upset by Taipei's shuttler
Cheng Shao-chieh in quarter-final. She then claimed
2011 China Masters Super Series title when she was leading 21–16 and 8–5 & her opponent Jiang Yanjiao retired. She also claimed Macau Open title in the year end by beating
Han Li in the summit clash.
2012
Wang won the
Korean Open title by beating
Jiang Yanjiao in the final clash. She was the finalist in the
2012 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, where she gone down against
Saina Nehwal. She won her first
Asian Championship medal when she reached the semifinal. But was defeated by
Wang Yihan hence settled for bronze. She was the prime contender from China for the participation in the 2012 Olympics, other already confirmed players from China were Wang Yihan and Wang Xin. But there was another rising Chinese player
Li Xuerui who was ranked below Wang Shixian but with her stunning 6 finals in the 1st half of 2012 made her ranking points more than Shixian and hence, the head coach
Li Yongbo selected Li instead of Wang Shixian to contest the Olympics, and Shixian's Olympic dream was broken. However some sources say she had relatively poor performance against other top players of different countries when compared to her teammates, significantly against players like Saina Nehwal &
Juliane Schenk. Li Xuerui on the other hand had beaten them multiple times so that's why Shixian was omitted from the Olympic squad and Li was chosen. In
year end finals, she reached the semifinal after having 2 group wins. She ousted
Ratchanok Intanon
Ratchanok Intanon (, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, which has been described as 'balletic' by com ...
there and advanced to final round. She retired when trailing 9–21, 4–15 against Li Xuerui and finished as runner-up.
2013

After a moment of distress Wang Shixian started the year very well, she was runner-up to the Victor Korea Open where she was ousted by Sung Ji-hyun. She succeeded in taking the
Swiss Open title by beating Ratchanok Intanon. Wang Shixian competed at the
BWF world championship that took place in Guangzhou China as the 7th seed. Nonetheless, she lost against
P. V. Sindhu again (18–21; 17–21) who also downed Wang's compatriot & defending champion Wang Yihan earlier in the 2nd round. The Chinese coaches later revealed that they took time to analyze Sindhu's game. In October, Wang Shixian played at the Yonex French Open Superseries as the 7 seed, she managed to climb her way to the final in getting rid of all her opponents in 2 straight games. Wang showed a great performance and overcame a tough challenge by Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk to win (21–18; 21–18) and grabbed her 1st Superseries title since the Victor Korea Open in 2012. She then lost in the finals of
2013 China Open Super Series Premier &
2013 Hong Kong Super Series to her team-mates
Li Xuerui &
Wang Yihan respectively. She put up a good show at the
2013 BWF Super Series Finals where she won all her group stage matches against
Tai Tzu-ying, Sung Ji-hyun and
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk
Porntip Buranaprasertsuk (; born 24 October 1991) is a Thai badminton player. Buranaprasertsuk won her first BWF Super Series, Superseries title in 2011 India Super Series, 2011 India Open on 1 May 2011, becoming the first Thai to win a women's ...
in 2 games. She was favourite to win the semifinal after her repeat clash with Tai again. But this time, she suffered defeat, with very narrow margins in 3 tense games.
2014
She made her way to the final of the
2014 Malaysia Super Series Premier but lost against her compatriot
Li Xuerui. She then afterwards won her 2nd All England title, in which she defeated the trio of Olympic medallists (Nehwal in quarter-final, Yihan in semifinal & Li Xuerui in the final) which made her victory even more memorable. Meanwhile, Chen Long made his way to the final and the English media seized the occasion to talk about the All England as the fulfillment of the love affair of Chen and Shixian. However, both of them confessed in an interview that they didn't know what went on in England and it was embarrassing to mix their professional relationship and private life in order to make the buzz. In the
2014 India Super Series, even though Wang faced tough opponents as she was reckoned as the player who's been on court the longest time that to say almost six hours, she won the title, beating Li Xuerui yet again 22–20, 21–19. In an Interview Shixian said "It's all about beating the others so as long as China wins we're happy" which shows the fair play and the support between players. She also settled for the silver medal in
2014 Badminton Asia Championships where she lost to
Sung Ji-hyun
Sung Ji-hyun (; born 29 July 1991) is a South Korean badminton player from Seoul. She is an Badminton Asia Championships, Asian Championship gold medalist, a two-time Badminton at the Summer Universiade, Summer Universiade gold medalist, and a ...
who was playing in front of her home crowd.
Wang was second-seeded in the
2014 BWF World Championships and was one of the favourites to win the tournament. But she was again defeated in a thrilling quarter-final match against
P. V. Sindhu, a player to whom Wang lost to in the previous year. In September Wang played in the team event of the Asian games. She and her team won the gold medal beating the Korean team 3–0. However, she didn't get selected in the individual event. In October, Wang Shixian retained her French title, her third superseries title of the year, after Li Xuerui retired in the 2nd game, 21–15, 8–5. Wang Shixian qualified in first place for the year end Super Series Finals staged for the first time in Dubai. She lost all three of her round-robin matches in straight sets and exited the tournament.
2015–2016
2015 proved disappointing year for Wang, as she was stopped in the semifinals of many tournaments. In her quarter-final at the
2015 Malaysia Super Series Premier, she played the longest ever Women's singles badminton match against
Nozomi Okuhara, which lasted for 1 hours & 51 minutes. Wang won that encounter and Okuhara was left cramping in that historic match. She did have final appearances at the
2015 Australian Super Series and
2015 French Super Series, both of them being lost to
Carolina Marín
Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish badminton player. She is an Badminton at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's singles, Olympic Champion, three-time BWF World Championships, World Champion, and eight-time Europea ...
. She was also a quarterfinalist at the
2015 BWF World Championships, where she lost to Marín again. In the
2014 BWF Super Series Finals, she won only one match (against
Sung Ji-hyun
Sung Ji-hyun (; born 29 July 1991) is a South Korean badminton player from Seoul. She is an Badminton Asia Championships, Asian Championship gold medalist, a two-time Badminton at the Summer Universiade, Summer Universiade gold medalist, and a ...
) & lost other 2 group matches which denied her advancement in the semifinals.
In 2016, she paddled off the year with the runner-up finish at the
2016 German Open Grand Prix Gold where she lost to
Li Xuerui. In her overall 3rd final at the All England Open, Wang was beaten by
Nozomi Okuhara in a controversial 3-gamer, in which she lost a close 11–21, 21–16, 19–21 match. In the
2016 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold, she made her way to the final before losing to local star
Tai Tzu-ying in the final. Just like the last Olympics, Shixian again failed to participate in the 2016 Olympics, as Chinese team selected higher ranked
Wang Yihan as a 2nd qualifier from China, another already confirmed player was the defending Olympic champion Li Xuerui. She subsequently decided to take retirement from the professional badminton.
Personal life

Wang graduated from the
Nanjing University of Finance and Economics with a bachelor's degree. After retirement she finished a master's degree in sports education at the
Beijing Sports University where she has taught since 2020.
She married former teammate
Chen Long in 2017, after over a decade together. She gave birth to a son Chen Shan Yang, nickname "Coffee", in June 2019.
As a child she attended a
sports school
A sports school () is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of physical culture (fitness) and sports education in the USSR and the Eastern Bloc, pa ...
in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
province. The boy who sat next to her during classes was
table tennis
Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
player
Xu Xin.
Achievements
BWF World Championships
''Women's singles''
Asian Games
''Women's singles''
Asian Championships
''Women's singles''
East Asian Games
''Women's singles''
BWF World Junior Championships
''Girls' singles''
BWF Superseries (12 titles, 11 runners-up)
The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by
Badminton World Federation
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...
(BWF). BWF Superseries has two level such as
Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011,
with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.
''Women's singles''
:
BWF Superseries Finals tournament
:
BWF Superseries Premier tournament
:
BWF Superseries tournament
BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 3runners-up)
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the
BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold
The BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was run from 2007 to 2017.
Features Prize money
A Grand Prix Gold tournament offered minimum prize money of US$
...
. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the
Badminton World Federation
The Badminton World Federation, aka BWF, is the international governing body for the sport of badminton approved by the International Olympic Committee. It was founded on 5 July 1934 as the International Badminton Federation with nine member ...
(BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017.
''Women's singles''
:
BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
:
BWF Grand Prix tournament
Performance timeline
Singles performance timeline
''To avoid confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through
2016 All England Super Series Premier.''
Record against selected opponents
Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.
References
External links
*
*
Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Shixian
1990 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Suzhou
Badminton players from Jiangsu
Chinese female badminton players
Badminton players at the 2010 Asian Games
Badminton players at the 2014 Asian Games
Asian Games gold medalists for China
Asian Games medalists in badminton
Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games
World No. 1 badminton players
21st-century Chinese sportswomen