Wang Shixian

Wang Shixian (Chinese: 王适娴; pinyin: Wáng Shìxián; Mandarin pronunciation: [wǎŋ.ʂî ɕjɛ̌n]; born February 13, 1990 in Suzhou, Jiangsu) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is a former World No. 1 in women's singles.

Wang at the 2013 French Super Series.

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

Wang Shixian competed in the World Junior Championship but lost to a Korean player in the final.

2009

Early in this year, she won her first Super Series title in Malaysia open, beating her teammate, Wang Xin.

In the China Masters, Wang Shixian beat a series of strong rivals, including her teammate Jiang Yanjiao and Malaysian singles player Wong Mew Choo. She also helped to win the team gold for the Jiangsu Province in the 11th China National Games but was beaten in the final of the women's singles by Wang Lin.

2010

Wang Shixian won gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou beating Wang Xin.

2011

Wang Shixian won the first two titles competed in the year which is the Super Series Final beating Bae Youn-joo and the Malaysia Open beating Wang Yihan. Wang Shixian also won the All England Open beating Eriko Hirose in the final.

2012

China has omitted Wang Shixian from its Badminton Olympics team for London Olympics 2012. Shixian was runner-up at the 2012 Super Series Final and was beaten by Li Xuerui.

2013

After a moment of distress Wang Shixian started the year very well, she was runner-up to the Victor Korea Open and she was ousts by Sung Ji-hyun but showed a great performance. At the All England she was beaten by Saina Nehwal in the quarter-final but she succeeded in taking vengeance at the Swiss Open. She then reached the final and beat Ratchanok Intanon to win the title, furthermore she climbs back up a title within a short space of 14 months. Wang Shixian competed in the Li-Ning Singapore Open but she lost in the quarter final against her compatriot Wang Yihan. Wang Shixian competed at the BWF world championship that took place in Guangzhou China as the 7 seed. Nonetheless she lost against P.V Sindhu from India (18-21; 17-21) who also downed Wang's compatriot Wang Yihan. 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 her opponents in 2 straight games especially the world champion Ratchanok Inthanon (21-10; 22-20). Wang showed a great performance and took every match seriously and she 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.

2014

Wang took part in the first super series event of the year at the Victor Korean open. She lost in the semi-finals against her compatriot Wang Yihan . The week after she made her way to the final of the Malaysia Premier super series event but she lost against her compatriot Li Xuerui. Thereafter she competed in the All England super series event, in the semi-finals she succeeded to oust Wang Yihan her fellow (21-8;21-15) and then she grabbed her first super series of the year beating Li Xuerui in the final (21-19;21-18). Meantime, Chen Long made his way to the final and the English media seized the occasion talking about the All England as the fulfillment of the love affair of Chen and Shixian . However, Chen Long and Wang Shixian 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 India Open, Wang had to go through tough opponents as she was reckoned as the players who's been on court the longest time that to say almost 6 hours. In the semi-finals, she managed to pull off a hard match when she downed her compatriot Wang Yihan (21-15;7-21;20-22) and she succeeded to win 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. 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, by beating Li Xuerui again (21-15; 8-5 (w/o)).In November, Wang Shixian lost in the second round of Thaihot China Open Premier Super series to Japan's emerging young talent Akane Yamaguchi (14-21, 10-21), who later lost in the final to India's Saina Nehwal. 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.

Wang graduated from the Nanjing University of Finance and Economics with a bachelor's degree.

She married former teammate Chen Long in 2017, after over a decade together.

Record against Superseries finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists - as of 6 November 2015:

Individual titles (16)

     Super Series tournament

     Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix tournament