Li Xuerui
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. This broke Wang Shixian and she decided to take the retirement.