Female Defenders

From the recently concluded Portugal Challenge, I was a little ambivalent over the effectiveness of playing defence in modern table tennis. The general school of thought seemed to be that defenders are not doing as well ever since bigger plastic balls were introduced (i.e. reduced spin). I think that is true to a certain extent – cases in point being Wu Yang who used to lose only to her teammates but is getting wrecked pretty often since 2016, the once-enigmatic Olympics Bronze Medallist Kim Song I also seem to be losing her magic and there's Han Ying. All three rarely make it to the Quarterfinals during recent World Tour Platinum events. However, Japanese defenders like Sato Hitomi and Hashimoto Honoka and perhaps Suh Hyowon as well appear to be doing fine (or as well as defenders do)? Any thoughts? How do defenders thrive in the current TT game?

Also, I thought it will be interesting to pick your brains about the current standings among female defenders (men's game seem to lack defenders after Joo's retirement; only Ma Te, Filus Ruwen and Panagiotis Gionis come to mind). Below is just my opinion (not in any particular order; only the tiers).

S

Wu Yang (China; Best WR: 4th in 2014)
Sato Hitomi (Japan; Best WR: 9th in 2017)
Hashimoto Honoka (Japan; Best WR: 13th in 2017)
Kim Song I (North Korea; Best WR: 19th in 2017)

A+

Suh Hyowon (South Korea; Best WR: 8th in 2014)
Han Ying (Germany; Best WR: 6th in 2017)
Hu Limei (China; Best WR: 16th in 2014)

A

Liu Fei (China; Best WR: 23rd in 2015)
Li Qian (Poland; Best WR: 19th in 2010)
Li Jie (Netherlands; Best WR: 10th in 2018)

B+

Gaponova Ganna (Ukraine; Best WR: 60th in 2018)

B

Linda Bergstrom (Sweden; Best WR: 81st in 2019)

Vlad Celler said:

It is interesting to see the statistics of their meetings with each other ....
It turns out that in China there are no young defenders comparable to the Japanese?
Liu Fei are very rarely released to tournaments outside of China .....
(although she plays in her Super League, as well as HU Limei ..)

Click to expand...

They rarely get to play in CTTSL actually. Liu Fei only had four matches (won two and lost two) while Hu Limei was sent out eight times (won three and lost five) this season. An average player should get at least 20 matches.