Xia Xuanze

Xia Xuanze (born 5 January 1979) is a former badminton player from China who played singles at the world level from the late 1990s through the first few years of the 21st century. Now he is a singles coach for the national team of China.

Career

At one time or another he experienced victory in most of badminton's biggest events. The exception came in his sole appearance at the Olympics when he was beaten in the semifinals of the 2000 Games in Sydney by Indonesia's Hendrawan. Xia settled for a bronze medal there after defeating Denmark's Peter Gade in the playoff for third place. Earlier in that season, Xia had won the prestigious All-England Championships over eighteen-year-old Taufik Hidayat. He captured men's singles at the IBF World Championships in 2003 by defeating Malaysia's Wong Choong Hann. Finally, in international team play, he was a member of the Chinese squad that ended a long drought by capturing the highly coveted Thomas Cup (men's world team competition and trophy) in 2004.

In the 2010 Thomas Cup, Xia coached Chen Jin, witnessing his country win 3–0 over Indonesia for their fourth consecutive Thomas Cup.

In 2017, Xia Xuanze together with Zhang Jun replaced Li Yongbo as head coach of the Chinese badminton team.

Player attributes

Xia's game was marked by impressive speed and agility, aggressive and accurate net play, and adequate, if not overwhelming, overhead power. The power he used in his legs allowed him to "play the shot" very early. This attribute, combined with very sophisticated and consistent deceptive shots, gave some of his opponents the opportunity to win very few points at all.

Achievements

Olympic Games

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2000	Pavilion 3, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia	Template:Flagicon Peter Gade	15–13, 15–5	File:Bronze medal.svg Bronze

World Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2003	National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, United Kingdom	Template:Flagicon Wong Choong Hann	15–6, 13–15, 15–6	Gold Gold

Asian Championships

Men's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2001	PhilSports Arena, Manila, Philippines	Template:Flagicon Lin Dan	15–10, 15–9	Gold Gold
2002	Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Template:Flagicon Taufik Hidayat	2–15, 11–15	Bronze Bronze

IBF World Grand Prix

The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
1999	German Open	Template:Flagicon Pullela Gopichand	15–4, 13–15, 15–4	Winner
1999	Dutch Open	Template:Flagicon Ji Xinpeng	15–10, 15–13	Winner
2000	All England Open	Template:Flagicon Taufik Hidayat	15–6, 15–13	Winner
2000	Swiss Open	Template:Flagicon Ji Xinpeng	15–8, 15–6	Winner
2000	Malaysia Open	Template:Flagicon Taufik Hidayat	10–15, 14–17	Runner-up
2000	World Grand Prix Finals	Template:Flagicon Marleve Mainaky	7–4, 7–5, 2–7, 8–6	Winner
2001	China Open	Template:Flagicon Wong Choong Hann	3–7, 7–3, 2–7, 7–5, 7–4	Winner
2002	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Lee Hyun-il	7–5, 5–7, 7–0, 5–7, 2–5	Runner-up
2003	Japan Open	Template:Flagicon Lin Dan	15–12, 15–10	Winner
2004	Korea Open	Template:Flagicon Chen Hong	15–9, 17–15	Winner
2004	Denmark Open	Template:Flagicon Lin Dan	12–15, 11–15	Runner-up
2004	German Open	Template:Flagicon Lin Dan	16–17, 9–15	Runner-up
2006	Swiss Open	Template:Flagicon Lee Chong Wei	8–15, 0–15	Runner-up