Michelle Li


Michelle Li is a Canadian badminton player from Markham, Ontario.
Li is the 2014 Commonwealth Games 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, and won the singles and team event titles from the Pan Am Badminton Championships. As a competitor for Ontario, 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.

Career

One of Li's early notable performances came at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, Nova Scotia. There she won gold in the women's singles event and followed that performance with a gold in the doubles event with Alexandra Bruce. 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. 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.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, 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 and Renuga Veeran. Bruce and Li finished in fourth place, the best Canadian finish in badminton at the Olympic Games.
In 2013, Li entered into the finals of the Macau Open Grand Prix Gold, defeating Hong Kong top player Yip Pui Yin 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 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 2014 Commonwealth Games defeating Kirsty Gilmour 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, Li successfully defended her title, defeating fellow Canadian Rachel Honderich in the final.
Michelle 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. Canada eventually lost 3-1 to Korea.
In the 2019 Japan Open, Li played and defeated the No 1 seed, Tai Tzu-ying to reach the semis.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2014Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland Kirsty Gilmour21–14, 21–7 Gold

Pan American Games

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2011Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico Joycelyn Ko21–12, 21–13 Gold
2015Atos Markham Pan Am Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Rachel Honderich21–15, 21–9 Gold
2019Polideportivo 3, Lima, Peru Rachel Honderich21–11, 21–19 Gold

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2011Multipurpose Gymnasium,
Guadalajara, Mexico		 Alex Bruce Iris Wang
Rena Wang		21–15, 21–15 Gold
2015Atos Markham Pan Am Centre,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada		 Rachel Honderich Eva Lee
Paula Lynn Obanana		11–21, 8–21 Bronze

Pan Am Championships

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2010Clube Curitibano,
Curitiba, Brazil		 Cee Nantana Ketpura21–17, 17–21, 19–21 Silver
2013Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto,
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic		 Jamie Subandhi21–8, 21–6 Gold
2014Markham Pan Am Centre,
Markham, Canada		 Rachel Honderich21–13, 21–16 Gold
2018Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium,
Guatemala City, Guatemala		 Rachel Honderich21–15, 21–16 Gold
2019Gimnasio Olímpico,
Aguascalientes, Mexico		 Brittney Tam21–15, 24–22 Gold

Women's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2010Clube Curitibano,
Curitiba, Brazil		 Alex Bruce Grace Gao
Jocelyn Ko		21–16, 21–23, 12–21 Silver
2013Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto,
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic		 Grace Gao Eva Lee
Paula Lynn Obanana		21–16, 11–21, 6–21 Bronze

Mixed's doubles
YearVenuePartnerOpponentScoreResult
2008Club de Regatas,
Lima, Peru		 Adrian Liu Toby Ng
Valerie Loker		14–21, 15–21 Bronze

BWF World Tour (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Women's singles
YearTournamentLevelOpponentScoreResult
2019Macau OpenSuper 300 Han Yue21–18, 21–8 Winner
2019Chinese Taipei OpenSuper 300 Sung Ji-hyun11–21, 9–21 Runner-up
2018Macau OpenSuper 300 Han Yue23–25, 21–17, 21–15 Winner

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

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation since 2007.
Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2013Macau Open P. V. Sindhu15–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2014Canada Open Pai Yu-po21–16, 23–21 Winner
2015Canada Open Kaori Imabeppu21–17, 25–23 Winner
2016Canada Open Beiwen ZhangWalkover Winner
2017U.S. Open Aya Ohori11–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2017Dutch Open Beiwen Zhang16–21, 14–21 Runner-up

BWF International Challenge/Series (21 titles, 9 runners-up)

Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2010Peru International Manami Ebuchi18–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2010Canadian International Hitomi Oka21–15, 12–21, 21–23 Runner-up
2011Dutch International Susan Egelstaff18–21, 21–13, 15–21 Runner-up
2011Guatemala International Jeanine Cicognini21–15, 21–13 Winner
2011Brazil International Kana Ito21–15, 21–15 Winner
2011Puerto Rico International Anne Hald Jensen21–13, 29–27 Winner
2011Canadian International Lianne Tan21–14, 21–11 Winner
2012Finnish Open Yao Jie20–22, 19–21 Runner-up
2012Peru International Ai Goto21–23, 21–14, 21–15 Winner
2012Tahiti International Nicole Grether21–8, 21–13 Winner
2013Maldives International Hana Ramadhini21–8, 21–13 Winner
2013Canadian International Christin Tsai21–14, 21–19 Winner
2013Brazil International Lohaynny Vicente16–21, 21-15, 21-8 Winner
2014Peru International Beiwen Zhang25–27, 19–21 Runner-up
2014Belgian International Karin Schnaase11–6, 11–2, 11–6 Winner
2014Czech International Marija Ulitina21–14, 21–17 Winner
2017Peru International Disha Gupta21–10, 21–10 Winner

Women's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2011Banuinvest International Alex Bruce Sonia Olariu
Florentina Petre		21–15, 21–14 Winner
2011Peru International Alex Bruce Iris Wang
Rena Wang		11–21, 21–15, 21–8 Winner
2011Brazil International Alex Bruce Eva Lee
Paula Lynn Obanana		14–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2011Puerto Rico International Alex Bruce Grace Gao
Joycelin Ko		24–22, 15–21, 21–11 Winner
2011Canadian International Alex Bruce Nicole Grether
Charmaine Reid		21–10, 13–21, 21–16 Winner
2012Finnish Open Alex Bruce Chow Mei Kuan
Lee Meng Yean		21–19, 12–21, 21–16 Winner
2012Peru International Alex Bruce Nicole Grether
Charmaine Reid		21–18, 21–18 Winner
2012Tahiti International Alex Bruce Eva Lee
Paula Lynn Obanana		13–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2013Peru International Grace Gao Joycelin Ko
Christin Tsai		21–15, 21–18 Winner
2014Czech International Rachel Honderich Irina Khlebko
Elena Komendrovskaja		21–12, 21–17 Winner

Mixed doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2013Brazil International Yang Chih-hsun Phillip Chew
Jamie Subandhi		13–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2013USA International Toby Ng Halim Haryanto Ho
Jing Yu Hong		21–16, 21–15 Winner
2014Peru International Derrick Ng Christian Yahya Christianto
Eva Lee		16–21, 18–21 Runner-up

Record against selected Opponents

Includes Players who have been Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists or Olympic quarterfinalists at least.