Chinese shuttlers suffered several unexpected defeats recently. "Grand Slam" winner Lin Dan lost to Japanese Sho Sasaki in last June's Indonesia premier super series, while women's world No.1 Wang Shixian and world No. 3 Wang Xin were both stunned by lower-ranking rivals in May's Sudirman Cup, in which China was finally crowned for the fourth straight time depending on its comprehensive strength.

"The berths are reduced and the rivals are improving," said Li. "We couldn't change these facts, but we could make ourselves stronger."

In order to prepare for the world championships to be held in Wembley Arena between Aug 8 to Aug 14, the Chinese team has been in Qingdao for two weeks. Last year in Paris world championships, China made a clean-sweep for the first time in 23 years, however this time in London, Li insisted that the team would "fight for good results and at the same time, get familiar with the Olympic arena".

With the Olympics one year to go, the top priority for the Chinese team is to get enough world ranking points. Qualification rests on where players stand in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings list when it is published on May 3, 2017. The rankings take into account all performances between May 2, 2011 and April 29, 2017.

"To gain more points, keep the form and avoid injury are our basic plan in the decisive final year ahead of London Olympics," said Li.

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