Gu Juan (; born 26 May 1990) is a Chinese-born Singaporean

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 p ...

player who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Early life

Gu followed her father to

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

when she was six years old. Due to poor body constitution, her father sent her to a badminton school to build her up. Gu represented Nanjing and won a competition. She was subsequently invited to join the Beijing badminton team but withdrew after not being used to the weather conditions. Gu then further represented Nanjing in the Jiangsu sports competition and won the girls doubles and mixed doubles. Former Jiangsu badminton coach, representing the

Singapore Badminton Association Singapore Badminton Association (abbreviation: SBA) is the national governing body for badminton in Singapore. It governs, encourages and develops the sport throughout the country. Founded in 1929, the SBA is an affiliate of the Singapore Nat ...

, scouted her and invited her to Singapore. Gu came to Singapore in 2003 under the

Foreign Sports Talent Scheme The Foreign Sports Talent Scheme (FST), initially known as Project Rainbow, was a scheme used by sports officials and organisations in Singapore to scout and facilitate the migration of non-Singaporeans deemed to possess sports talent to play in S ...

and became a Singapore citizen in June 2007. She left the Singapore national team to return to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

for studies a year later. However, 16 months later, after the persuasion of the Singapore national badminton team's head coach, she re-joined the national team.

Career

Gu was part of the Singapore women's team who won the silver medal at the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 2007, Kila haeng echiye tawan oak chiyeng tai 2007), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, was a South ...

held in Thailand. In 2012, Gu was selected as Singapore's only Olympic women's singles player for the 2012 Summer Olympics by the Singapore Badminton Association, ahead of Southeast Asian Games women's singles champion Fu Mingtian. At the 2012 Olympics, she qualified from her group before losing to

Cheng Shao-chieh Cheng Shao-chieh (; born 4 January 1986) is a badminton player from Taiwan. Cheng played badminton at the 2004 Summer Olympics for the Republic of China as Chinese Taipei. In women's singles, she defeated Ling Wan Ting of Hong Kong and Jun Jae ...

Awards

Gu received the 2013 Meritorious Award from the Singapore National Olympic Committee.

Achievements

BWF World Junior Championships

''Girls' singles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Girls' singles''

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had 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 was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. ''Women's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament : BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists * Victoria Na 1–0 *

Petya Nedelcheva Petya Nedelcheva ( bg, Петя Неделчева; born 30 July 1983) is a Bulgarian badminton player. She was born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. At the Bulgarian National Badminton Championships she won more than 20 titles. Career A right-hand ...

3–3 * Zhu Lin 1–0 *

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 ...

0–4 * Wang Xin 0–3 *

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 t ...

0–4 *

Li Xuerui Li Xuerui (born 24 January 1991) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is one of the most successful players of her time. She was a gold medalist at 2012 London Olympics in the women's singles event and was the silver medalists ...

1–5 * Yao Xue 0–1 * Liu Xin 0–1 * Wang Lin 0–1 *

2–3 *

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

3–2 *

Pi Hongyan Pi Hongyan (; born 25 January 1979) is a former Chinese badminton player, who later represented France. Career Pi Hongyan is one of a number of talented Chinese-born badminton players who have emigrated from China, in part, because of the inte ...

1–2 * Zhou Mi 0–1 *

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 and ...

2–1 *

Saina Nehwal Saina Nehwal (; born 17 March 1990) is an Indian professional badminton player. A former world no. 1, she has won 24 international titles, which includes ten Superseries titles. Although she reached the world's 2nd in 2009, it was only in 2015 ...

1–5 * Maria Kristin Yulianti 1–0 * Eriko Hirose 1–2 *

Sayaka Sato is a Japanese badminton player. She competed for Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Achievements BWF World Junior Championships ''Girls' singles'' BWF Superseries The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 200 ...

1–2 * Minatsu Mitani 0–4 * Bae Youn-joo 2–2 * Sung Ji-hyun 0–2 *

Wong Mew Choo Datin Wong Mew Choo (born 1 May 1983) is a Malaysian former badminton singles player. She was known for her exceptional stamina and endurance. Without any significant attacking weapons, she initially built her game on her ability to endure lon ...

1–0 * Monika Fašungová 2–0 *

Porntip Buranaprasertsuk Porntip Buranaprasertsuk ( th, พรทิพย์ บูรณะประเสริฐสุข; born 24 October 1991) is a Thai badminton player. Buranaprasertsuk won her first Superseries title in 2011 India Open on 1 May 2011, becoming ...

2–5 *

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 ...

1–3

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Juan 1990 births Living people People from Yancheng Badminton players from Jiangsu Chinese emigrants to Singapore Naturalised citizens of Singapore Chinese female badminton players Singaporean female badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for Singapore Competitors at the 2007 SEA Games Competitors at the 2011 SEA Games Competitors at the 2013 SEA Games SEA Games silver medalists for Singapore SEA Games bronze medalists for Singapore SEA Games medalists in badminton