Michelle Li (born November 3, 1991) is a Canadian

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 from

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in York Region, fourth largest ...

. Li is the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

champion and the first Canadian to win an individual gold medal in women's singles badminton at the Commonwealth Games. She has won gold in both singles and doubles at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, and won the singles and team event titles from the

Pan American Badminton Championships The Pan American Badminton Championships is a tournament organized since 1977 by the Badminton Pan America (BPA) to crown the best badminton players in the Americas. The tournament was held every year from 1977 until 1980, then every two years from ...

. As a competitor for

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Li also won singles, doubles, and mixed team titles at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

Early life and education

Michelle Li was born in Hong Kong to Chi Keung Li and Agnes Kwong, together with brother Mark they moved to Canada in 1997. An active child, she started playing badminton at age 11 with her mom at the local community center. A friend introduced her to her current club where she began lessons and competing locally in small tournaments. She started competing internationally when she was around 17 years old. Li graduated from Richmond Hill High School and is an undergraduate student at Rotman Commerce at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

Career

One of Li's early notable performances came at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. There she won gold in the women's singles event and followed that performance with a gold in the doubles event with

Alexandra Bruce Mary Alexandra "Alex" Bruce (born May 27, 1990) is a Canadian badminton player from Toronto, Ontario. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's doubles event with partner Michelle Li. Early career She started playing badminton a ...

. Due to this success she was then named the flag bearer for Team Ontario at the closing ceremonies for the games. Later that year Li was the gold medal winner in the women's doubles event alongside Bruce at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

. Li would then go on the next day to win the women's singles competition, completing a second games double gold appearance that year, this time in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

. At the

2012 Summer 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 ...

, Bruce and Li finished last in the round-robin portion of the women's doubles tournament, losing all three of their matches. However, the top two teams in the group were disqualified for attempting to intentionally lose matches so they would have an easier match-up in the quarterfinals. The duo was advanced to their quarterfinals, where they defeated Australia's

Leanne Choo Nyuk Lian "Leanne" Choo (born 5 June 1991) is a badminton player from Australia. She is the reigning Oceania Champion in women's and mixed doubles. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics, alongside former women's doubles partner, ...

and Renuga Veeran. Bruce and Li finished in fourth place, the best Canadian finish in badminton at the Olympic Games. In the singles event, Li was knocked out by

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 ...

. In 2013, Li entered into the finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold, defeating Hong Kong top player

Yip Pui Yin Yip Pui Yin (; born 6 August 1987) is a badminton player from Hong Kong. Career Yip played at the 2005 World Badminton Championships in Anaheim. In the women's singles event she reached the third round after beating Laura Molina of Spain an ...

in the semi-finals, making her the first Pan American athlete to ever enter into a singles final of a Grand Prix Gold event since that series began in 2007. In 2014, she also entered into the quarter-finals of the All England Open Badminton Championships Super Series Premier, beating

Tai Tzu-ying Tai Tzu-ying (; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese badminton player. At the age of 22, she became BWF World Ranking#Women's singles, world No. 1 in the women's singles in December 2016, and she is the women's singles player who has held that ...

in the first round, making her, in 35 years, the first Canadian player to enter at the least the quarter-finals of this prestigious tournament. Later in 2014, Li won the Canada Open Grand Prix, making her the first home player to win this title ever since it became a Grand Prix event. Li won the gold medal at the

defeating

Kirsty Gilmour Kirsty Gilmour (born 21 September 1993) is a Scottish badminton player who has represented both Scotland and Great Britain. Career Gilmour won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, losing out to Michelle Li of Canada in the fina ...

of Scotland in the final. She thus became the first Canadian woman to win a singles gold in Commonwealth badminton. At the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

, Li successfully defended her title, defeating fellow Canadian

Rachel Honderich Rachel Honderich (born 21 April 1996) is a Canadian badminton player from Toronto, Ontario. She has been one of the top ranked women's individual and doubles player on the continent and a contender in major international competitions. She is a vi ...

in the final. In 2016, she qualified to represent Canada at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, but was defeated by

P. V. Sindhu Pusarla Venkata Sindhu (born 5 July 1995) is an Indian badminton player. Considered one of India's most successful sportspersons, Sindhu has won medals at various tournaments such as the Olympics and on the BWF circuit, including a gold at th ...

(21-19, 15-21, 17-21) and ranked 2nd in the group stage of women's singles. Michelle also had several operations in 2016 to fix nagging injuries sustained earlier in her career. She took a year off in 2017 to heal from the operations and to focus on a comeback for 2018. After deeming herself fully fit she entered the stage relatively quietly in 2018 until she made a landmark win against the 3rd seed Ratchanok Intanon in round 16 of the All England Open. She had not defeated Intanon previously. Michelle's progress was clear as she moved quickly around the court playing much lighter on her feet than her previous years. During the 2018 Thomas Uber Cup, Li again played well. She defeated India's Saina Nehwal, who she had not previously beaten, by 21–15, 16–21, 16–21. Li spearheaded Canada to their first ever Uber Cup quarterfinal and she defeated Sung Ji-hyun (21–14, 21–15). Canada eventually lost 3–1 to South Korea. In the 2019 Japan Open, Li played and defeated the No. 1 seed,

(21–15, 15–21, 22–20) to reach the semis. She qualified to represent Canada at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, but was defeated by

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 ...

(9–21, 7–21) in the round of 16. In 2022, Li won a silver medal at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

after defeating

of Scotland in the semi-finals and losing to

in the final. In the same year, Li also made a breakthrough in the 2022 BWF World Championships by defeating the eighth seed,

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 ...

, again in the round of 16. Though she eventually lost to the Olympic gold medalist and Chinese player Chen Yufei, it marked her first time to get into the quarterfinals of the

BWF World Championships The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious i ...

since 2011.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Women's singles''

Pan American Games

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

Pan Am Championships

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

BWF World Tour (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

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

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. ''Women's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (22 titles, 9 runners-up)

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles'' :

BWF International Challenge The BWF International Challenge is a grade 3 and level 1 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Series (level 2) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament :

BWF International Series The BWF International Series is a grade 3 and level 2 tournament part of Continental Circuit of BWF tournaments along with International Challenge (level 1) and Future Series (level 3), sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. ...

tournament

Performance timeline

Career overview

Individual competitions

* ''Senior level''

Record against selected opponents

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists. Accurate as of 6 November 2022

References

External links