Li Xuerui (born 24 January 1991) is a retired Chinese professional

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player. She is one of the most successful players of her time. She was a gold medalist at

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the women's singles event and was the silver medalists in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and 2014 World Championships. Li Xuerui won fourteen Superseries titles, confirming her status as China's second most successful player after

Wang Yihan Wang Yihan (born 18 January 1988) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player and former women's singles world champion and Olympic silver medalist. Wang started her career with her coach Wang Pengren at only nine years of age. She was ...

. She reached a career high of no. 1 in the women's singles for 124 weeks. Li graduated with a BA from

Huaqiao University Huaqiao University (; Acronym: HQU) is a national university located in Xiamen and Quanzhou, Fujian province, China. Huaqiao University was founded in 1960, with support from the late Chinese premier and historical figure Zhou Enlai, for stu ...

Career summary

Li Xuerui started playing badminton when she was 7 years old. She began playing in local clubs in her hometown in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

. She made her professional debut as a badminton player when she attended the Asia Junior championship which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Li Xuerui 3 crop

2008

In 2008, she won a gold medal at the

Asian Junior championship Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2010

In 2010, Li Xuerui won her first Grand Prix Gold title at the

Macau Open The Macau Open is a men's professional golf tournament on the Asian Tour which takes place in Macau. It was founded in 1998. The venue is the Macau Golf and Country Club at Coloane. Past winners including international stars and multiple Europea ...

, in the final she defeated Adrianti Firdasari from Indonesia with a score of 21–18, 21–15. Li won her first major tournament, the

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

. In the final, she defeated her compatriot, Liu Xin, 21–13, 18–21, 21–19.

2012

In 2012, she repeated her success at the

by defeating

with a score of 21–16, 16–21, 21–9. Li won the prestigious Super Series Premier event title at the All England Open for the first time by beating

in the final with a score of 21–13, 21–19. She then captured other international titles in

India Open The India Open is an annual badminton event which has been held in India since 2008 and is a BWF World Tour Super 750 international badminton tournament. Its first three editions were designated as Grand Prix Gold events. In 2011, it was upgr ...

, China Open, and Hong Kong Open. She collected five Super Series titles, including the Super Series Final in Dubai which she won defeating

Wang Shixian Wang Shixian (; ; born 13 February 1990) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is a former World No. 1 in women's singles. Career Wang Shixian was admitted into Chinese Junior National Team in 2005 and was soon promoted to ...

in the final. The 2012 season could be said to be the career peak for Li Xuerui. She made her first appearance at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, and on August 5, she won the London Olympic gold medal, in the final she defeated compatriot

with a score of 21–15, 21–23, 21–17.

2013

In 2013, she won a silver medal in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

when she was defeated by Thailand's

Ratchanok Intanon Ratchanok Intanon ( th, รัชนก อินทนนท์, , ; born 5 February 1995) is a Thai badminton player who became the first Thai to become No.1 in women's singles. She is known for her relaxed hitting motion and light footwork, w ...

in the final with a score of 22–20, 18–21, 14–21. In the same year, she won three Super Series titles in the Indonesia Open, China Open and the Super Series Final.

2014

In 2014, she reached the World Championships final, then she lost to the Spanish player

Carolina Marín Carolina María Marín Martín (born 15 June 1993) is a Spanish professional badminton player. She is an Olympic Champion, three-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, and the former World's No. 1 in BWF rankings for the women's si ...

with a score of 21–17, 17–21, 18–21. Li managed to win four Super Series titles including successfully defending her title in Indonesia Open, the other titles were: Japan Open, Malaysia Open, and

Denmark Open The Denmark Open, or formerly known as Danish Open, is an annual badminton tournament held in Denmark and organized by Badminton Denmark. The Denmark Open was part of the BWF Super Series Premier from 2011 to 2017. BWF categorised it as one of ...

2015

In 2015, Li Xuerui managed to defend her title at the

. In the final she defeated P. V. Sindhu of India with a score of 21-19, 21-12.

2016 Summer Olympics: heartbreak and injury issues

At the 2016 Summer Olympics women's singles semi-finals, Li Xuerui was defeated by world No. 1

when she suffered injuries to her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and lateral meniscus. This forced her to withdraw from the bronze medal match against

Nozomi Okuhara is a Japanese badminton player. A former World's number 1 in the BWF rankings for the women's singles, she is well known for her speed, agility and endurance. She won a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and gold medal at the 2017 World Cha ...

2018: Return to professional badminton

Li made her return to professional badminton at the 2017 National Games of China, where she played women's doubles but lost at the group stage. The reason she had played doubles instead of singles was that she was not yet fully recovered. In 2018, she made her return to international women's singles after a hiatus of 600 days at the 2018 Lingshui China Masters, which she won.

2019

In 2019, she played 25 times with 11 wins and 14 losses. She reached the quarter final at the All England Open, but was stopped by the 2017 World Champion from Japan

with a score of 17–21, 14–21. After that, she finished as the runner-up at the

New Zealand Open The New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand. It has been a regular fixture on the PGA Tour of Australasia tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has ...

, losing to South Korean youngster

An Se-young An Se-young (; born 5 February 2002) is a South Korean badminton player from Gwangju, who was awarded as 2019 Most Promising Player of the Year by the BWF. In 2018, An was selected to join the national team and became the first junior high s ...

with a score of 19–21, 15–21. She lost to

Busanan Ongbamrungphan Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Thai: บุศนันท์ อึ๊งบำรุงพันธ์; born 22 March 1996) is a Thai badminton player who specializes in singles. She competed at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games as well as the 2020 Summe ...

21-18, 20-22, 6-21 at the Australian Open despite leading in the second game. Afterwards, her career witnessed a huge downfall. She competed in Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and China and lost in the first round in all the tournaments. She announced her retirement from the international circuit in the first round match against

Sayaka Takahashi is a retired Japanese badminton player who was a singles specialist. She was the bronze medalist at the 2013 and 2014 Asian Championships. Takahashi reached a career high as world number 10 in the BWF World Ranking in February 2019. Personal ...

in Korea Open on 17 October after trailing in the 2nd game 15-21, 3-11.

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Women's singles''

World Championships

''Women's singles''

Asian Games

''Women's singles''

Asian Championships

''Women's singles''

World University Championships

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Girls' singles''

BWF World Tour

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine member ...

(BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Women's singles''

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by

(BWF). BWF Superseries has two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end. ''Women's singles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, ...

tournament

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the

BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) since 2007. ''Women's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

Performance timeline

Singles performance timeline

''To avoid confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through 2016 Indonesia Open.''

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.

References

External links

* *
Li Xuerui at BadmintonLink.com
*

at BadmintonCN.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Xuerui 1991 births Living people Badminton players from Chongqing Chinese female badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of China Olympic gold medalists for China Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games silver medalists for China Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games World No. 1 badminton players BWF Best Female Player of the Year