Michelle Li

Michelle Li
Michelle Li
Chinese	李文珊
Hanyu Pinyin
showTranscriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Lǐ Wénshān
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	lei5 man4saan1

Michelle Li
Michelle Li
	Michelle Li at the 2017 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier
Personal information
Birth name	Michelle Li Man-shan
Country	Canada
Born	November 3, 1991 (age 29); Hong Kong
Residence	Markham, Ontario, Canada
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb)
Years active	2010–present
Handedness	Right
Coach	Jennifer Lee; Mike Butler
Women's singles
Highest ranking	8 (22 October 2019)
Current ranking	11 (22 June 2021)
hide Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing Canada
Commonwealth Games
Pan American Games
Pan Am Championships
Pan Am Women's Team Championships
	BWF profile

Michelle Li (born November 3, 1991) is a Canadian badminton player from Markham, Ontario.^[1]^[2] 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[3]

Later that year Li was the gold medal winner in the women's doubles event alongside Bruce at the 2011 Pan American Games.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[6]

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.^[8] She thus became the first Canadian woman to win a singles gold in Commonwealth badminton.^[9]

At the 2015 Pan American Games, Li successfully defended her title, defeating fellow Canadian Rachel Honderich in the final.^[10]

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 (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, Tai Tzu-ying (21–15, 15–21, 22–20) to reach the semis.

She qualified to represent Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but was defeated by Nozomi Okuhara (9–21, 7–21) in the round of 16.^[11]

Achievements[]

Commonwealth Games[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Kirsty Gilmour	21–14, 21–7	Gold

Pan American Games[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico	Joycelyn Ko	21–12, 21–13	Gold
2015	Atos Markham Pan Am Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Rachel Honderich	21–15, 21–9	Gold
2019	Polideportivo 3, Lima, Peru	Rachel Honderich	21–11, 21–19	Gold

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Multipurpose Gymnasium, Guadalajara, Mexico	Alex Bruce	Iris Wang Rena Wang	21–15, 21–15	Gold
2015	Atos Markham Pan Am Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Rachel Honderich	Eva Lee Paula Lynn Obañana	11–21, 8–21	Bronze

Pan Am Championships[]

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Clube Curitibano, Curitiba, Brazil	Cee Nantana Ketpura	21–17, 17–21, 19–21	Silver
2013	Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Jamie Subandhi	21–8, 21–6	Gold
2014	Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada	Rachel Honderich	21–13, 21–16	Gold
2018	Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Rachel Honderich	21–15, 21–16	Gold
2019	Gimnasio Olímpico, Aguascalientes, Mexico	Brittney Tam	21–15, 24–22	Gold

Women's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Clube Curitibano, Curitiba, Brazil	Alex Bruce	Grace Gao Joycelyn Ko	21–16, 21–23, 12–21	Silver
2013	Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic	Grace Gao	Eva Lee Paula Lynn Obañana	21–16, 11–21, 6–21	Bronze

Mixed's doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Club 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,^[12] is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.^[13]

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Level	Opponent	Score	Result
2018	Macau Open	Super 300	Han Yue	23–25, 21–17, 21–15	Winner
2019	Chinese Taipei Open	Super 300	Sung Ji-hyun	11–21, 9–21	Runner-up
2019	Macau Open	Super 300	Han Yue	21–18, 21–8	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 (BWF) since 2007.

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Macau Open	P. V. Sindhu	15–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2014	Canada Open	Pai Yu-po	21–16, 23–21	Winner
2015	Canada Open	Kaori Imabeppu	21–17, 25–23	Winner
2016	Canada Open	Beiwen Zhang	Walkover	Winner
2017	U.S. Open	Aya Ohori	11–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2017	Dutch Open	Beiwen Zhang	16–21, 14–21	Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament

BWF Grand Prix tournament

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

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Peru International		18–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2010	Canadian International		21–15, 12–21, 21–23	Runner-up
2011	Dutch International	Susan Egelstaff	18–21, 21–13, 15–21	Runner-up
2011	Guatemala International	Jeanine Cicognini	21–15, 21–13	Winner
2011	Brazil International	Kana Ito	21–15, 21–15	Winner
2011	Puerto Rico International	Anne Hald Jensen	21–13, 29–27	Winner
2011	Canadian International	Lianne Tan	21–14, 21–11	Winner
2012	Finnish Open	Yao Jie	20–22, 19–21	Runner-up
2012	Peru International	Ai Goto	21–23, 21–14, 21–15	Winner
2012	Tahiti International	Nicole Grether	21–8, 21–13	Winner
2013	Maldives International	Hana Ramadhini	21–8, 21–13	Winner
2013	Canadian International	Christin Tsai	21–14, 21–19	Winner
2013	Brazil International	Lohaynny Vicente	16–21, 21-15, 21-8	Winner
2014	Peru International	Beiwen Zhang	25–27, 19–21	Runner-up
2014	Belgian International	Karin Schnaase	11–6, 11–2, 11–6	Winner
2014	Czech International	Marija Ulitina	21–14, 21–17	Winner
2017	Peru International		21–10, 21–10	Winner

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Banuinvest International	Alex Bruce		21–15, 21–14	Winner
2011	Peru International	Alex Bruce	Iris Wang Rena Wang	11–21, 21–15, 21–8	Winner
2011	Brazil International	Alex Bruce	Eva Lee Paula Lynn Obañana	14–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2011	Puerto Rico International	Alex Bruce	Grace Gao Joycelyn Ko	24–22, 15–21, 21–11	Winner
2011	Canadian International	Alex Bruce	Nicole Grether Charmaine Reid	21–10, 13–21, 21–16	Winner
2012	Finnish Open	Alex Bruce	Chow Mei Kuan Lee Meng Yean	21–19, 12–21, 21–16	Winner
2012	Peru International	Alex Bruce	Nicole Grether Charmaine Reid	21–18, 21–18	Winner
2012	Tahiti International	Alex Bruce	Eva Lee Paula Lynn Obañana	13–21, 12–21	Runner-up
2013	Peru International	Grace Gao	Joycelyn Ko Christin Tsai	21–15, 21–18	Winner
2014	Czech International	Rachel Honderich	Irina Khlebko Elena Komendrovskaja	21–12, 21–17	Winner

Mixed doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2013	Brazil International		Phillip Chew Jamie Subandhi	13–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2013	USA International	Toby Ng	Halim Haryanto Ho Jing Yu Hong	21–16, 21–15	Winner
2014	Peru International	Derrick Ng	Eva Lee	16–21, 18–21	Runner-up

BWF International Challenge tournament

BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents[]

Includes Players who have been Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists or Olympic quarterfinalists at least. Accurate as of 28 January 2021^[14]