Li Xuerui
Wang won the Korean Open title by beating Jiang Yanjiao in the final clash. She was the finalist in the 2012 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold, where she gone down against Saina Nehwal. She won her first Asian Championship medal when she reached the semifinal. But was defeated by Wang Yihan hence settled for bronze. She was qualified for the participation in the 2012 Olympics, other already confirmed players from China were Wang Yihan and Wang Xin. But there was another rising Chinese player Li Xuerui who was ranked below Wang Shixian but with her stunning 6 finals in the 1st half of 2012 made her ranking points more than Shixian and hence, the head coach Li Yongbo selected Li instead of Wang Shixian to contest the Olympics, and Shixian's Olympic dream was broken. However some sources say she had relatively poor performance against other top players of different countries when compared to her teammates, significantly against players like Saina Nehwal &amp; Juliane Schenk. Li Xuerui on the other hand had beaten them multiple times so that's why Shixian was omitted from the Olympic squad and Li was chosen. After the Olympics were over, her mental strength was affected &amp; her results in tournaments were not satisfactory. In the year end finals, however she gained some of her best form and reached the semifinal after having 2 group wins. She ousted Ratchanok Intanon there and advanced to final round. She retired when trailing 9–21, 4–15 against Li Xuerui and finished as runner-up.