The past year has been a breakthrough season for young players due to the impact of the pandemic. In 2021, a series of high-profile major team events were held, which gave many young players the opportunity to appear.
This is especially true after the Olympics, where the absence of some of the top players gives young players the opportunity to test their abilities at high levels.
Here are the potential stocks for the 2022 season selected by fans (the men's singles arena is highly competitive):
Yang Can (20)
Yang Can won his first Pan American Championship title in 2021 and qualified for the Olympic Games, nearly beating second seed Zhou Tiancheng at the Olympic arena. Since then he has made rapid progress, winning the Danish Masters. In the Sudirman Cup and Toms Cup, he beat Jonathan and Tokiyama Kanta.
Quinlavud (20)
Kunlavut finished runners-up at the Swiss Open, a sign of his rise. He beat Srikante and Shi Yuqi in the Sudirman Cup and Prince Wei and Jonathan in the Thomas Cup to become a stable scoring point for the Thai team. In the subsequent BWF year-end finals, he defeated Li Zijia and Srikante to finish second in the HSBC BWF year-end finals.
Lakshya (20)
Lakshya has been very consistent in the 2021 season, and he has made real progress in the final quarter of the competition. He was fairly stable in the semi-finals of the World Championships, nearly beating teammate Srikante. Due to the lack of experience in the competition, he eventually lost to veteran Srikante.
Popov Jr. (19)
Bobov Jr. and his brother's doubles duo have achieved good results in 2021, but his talent is not limited to doubles events. With the world rankings behind, he was limited in singles opportunities and continued to work out in doubles. At the Thomas Cup, he was the only player to win a set from Acelon in good form, and at the Indonesia Open, he beat Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Kim Ting in the first round.
Rachel Chen (18)
Seventeen-year-old Rachel missed all the events in 2020 due to the local lockdown, but she unexpectedly broke into the final of the Pan American Championship and finished runner-up. She played calmly and well for Canada for the first time in the Sudirman Cup, and she once again attracted everyone's attention with her match with Wang Zhiyi in the Uber Cup.
Wang Zhiyi (21)
2021 is a year of opportunity for Wang Zhiyi. She seized the opportunity to help China regain the Uber by winning three matches. Reached the quarter-finals at the Danish Open and World Championships, losing to world top 10 An Xianying and He Bingjiao. Although she is often compared to Olympic champion Chen Yufei, she is determined to create her own style.
Christopherson (21)
The tall Christopherson excelled in the Sudirman and Uber Cups and reached four consecutive tour finals in the 2021 season – the Orleans Masters, the European Champions, the Spanish Masters and the Danish Masters.
Riyanto (21)/Jacob (22)
The young Indonesian duo, who won the Spanish Masters and the Belgian Challenge, have been commendable despite not reaching the semi-finals or finals of the high-level event. Their current opponents include Astrup/Rasmussen, Lu Jingyao/Yang Bohan, Alfian/Adianto, Ivanov/Sozonov and Koga/Taiichi Saito.