Chinese badminton head coach Li Yongbo said Tuesday that Asian Games gold medallist Wang Shixian was left out of the London Olympic squad because she had a relatively sluggish record against foreign shuttlers compared with her teammates.

Women's singles is the only Olympic badminton event in which China has four players qualified, however, according to Badminton World Federation rules, a team can have up to three Olympic singles qualification berths if at least three players qualify in the world top four.

The world fourth ranked woman shuttler Wang Shixian was left out of Chinese squad as dark horse Li Xuerui grabbed the ticket along with Wang Yihan and Wang Xin.

After an inconsistent second half of 2011, Wang Shixian had found herself barely hanging on to her world number three spot on May 3, the conclusion date of the Olympic qualification period.

Meanwhile Li enjoyed a four-tournament winning streak and held an impressive 30-match unbeaten run record between February to June this year. Less than a month later, the 21-year-old overtook Wang Shixian on May 31.

Reigning world champion Wang Yihan secured an Olympic ticket by leading China to regain the Uber Cup in May. World No. 2 Wang Xin also staged a stable performance in the Uber Cup. Therefore the final ticket is considered to be given to either Wang Shixian or Li Xuerui.

"We conduct a specific analysis about their results facing our major rivals and made the final decision depending on it," said Li.

According to Li, in the past year Wang Yihan holds 34 wins and three losses facing major rivals, Li Xuerui ranked the second on the list with 33 wins and four losses, Wang Xin has 28 wins and seven losses while Wang Shixian only registers 17 wins and 11 losses.

"The list is very persuasive that Wang Shixian had a relatively sluggish performance comparing with three teammates," Li said.

Li hoped the 22-year-old Wang Shixian could continue to train hard and fight for the 2016 Olympic Games.

In other four events, the star-studded Chinese squad has already been finalized. Superstar Lin Dan is in quest for a record second Olympic men's singles title. Men's doubles favorites Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng will also seek their first Olympic title.

The Olympic badminton competition takes place from 28 July to 5 August at Wembley Arena in north-west London.

The squad of Chinese badminton team is as following:

Men's singles: Lin Dan, Chen Long, Chen Jin

Women's singles: Wang Yihan, Wang Xin, Li Xuerui

Men's doubles: Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng, Chai Biao/Guo Zhendong

Women's doubles: Yu Yang/Wang Xiaoli, Tian Qing/Zhao Yunlei

Mixed doubles: Zhan Nan/Zhao Yunlei, Xu Chen/Ma Jin