Wang Yihan (born 18 January 1988) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player and former women's singles world champion and Olympic silver medalist.

[9] Yihan then won her first super-series title, the Japan Open by beating leading player from Hongkong, Zhou Mi, with 21–19, 17–21, 21–15 scores.

[10] However, she didn't qualify ro participate in the 2008 Olympics, as her highest achieving teammates and senior players Xie Xingfang, Zhang Ning & Lu Lan had already confirmed their places from China.

Yihan was at her prime in 2009, as she won the Yonex German Open competition against fellow countrywoman Zhu Lin,[11] and just one week later, at the age of 21, the prestigious All-England Championships against Denmark's Tine Rasmussen.

[19] Wang won her second title in a row, and her fifth BWF Super Series tournament of the year, when she beat Jiang Yanjiao again, this time in the Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open.

[citation needed] Yihan was looking to defend her All England Open title but was beaten by Tine Rasmussen in a repeat final of the previous year's clash, in a very close match or 3 games.

[20] Just like the previous year, Yihan again lost early in the BWF World Championships, losing to Japanese Eriko Hirose in 2nd round.

She won all her group stage encounters, with win against Petya Nedelcheva, Tine Baun & Yip Pui Yin.

[26] Yihan made a superb comeback against Saina Nehwal in the 2011 Indonesia Super Series Premier final, when she edged through a close 2nd game to win it 12–21, 23–21, 21–14.

[27] Continuing in her best form, she defeated Gu Juan, Ratchanok Intanon, Pi Hongyan & Wang Xin to reach the final of BWF World Championships.

She won the gold medal, beating Cheng Shao-chieh with a big win and continued the Chinese supremacy in the Women's single category.

[29] She lost to her teammate Wang Xin for the first time, in the 2011 Denmark Super Series Premier final failing to defend her title.

In the 2011 BWF Super Series Finals, she lost to Sung Ji-hyun but won other 2 matches against Juliane Schenk & Tine Baun, qualifying for the semifinal.

[34] She failed to defend her Asian title with a defeat from the hands of Li Xuerui in the final, settling for the silver medal.

Wang Yihan won the 2012 China Masters Super Series by beating a familiar rival Jiang Yanjiao.

[38] Her losing streak against Li Xuerui continued, this time in the final of the 2012 Hong Kong Super Series, where Wang retired in the middle of the 2nd game while trailing 12–21, 3–11.

[43] She won the 2013 Denmark Super Series Premier in a very difficult encounter of 3 games, standing victorious over Sung Ji-hyun.

[54] Her title victory at the 2015 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold stunned everybody, as she recorded a very disastrous win over Li Xuerui in just 29 minutes of play, conceding less than 20 points in the match.

In the final though, she appeared out of sorts against Nozomi Okuhara in the decisive moments of the match, as her tireless opponent's long rallying style drained out Wang's physical strength and she lost in 2 tight games.

She was the runner up in the 2016 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold event, losing to young Chinese He Bingjiao in the final.

She then sailed through to the finals of 2016 Indonesia Super Series Premier, which included her 2nd consecutive victory over 2-time reigning World Champion, Carolina Marín in the semifinal.

In the final moment, her teammate Shixian was ruled out and she was sent to Rio with already qualified Li Xuerui (defending Olympic champion).