Michelle Li

Michelle Li 李文珊
Michelle Li at the 2017 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier
Personal information
Birth name	Michelle Li Man-shan
Country	Canada
Born	(1991-11-03) November 3, 1991 (age 33) 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
Career record	411 wins, 211 losses
Highest ranking	8 (22 October 2019)
Current ranking	29 (27 August 2024)
Medal record Women's badminton Representing  Canada Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow Women's singles 2022 Birmingham Women's singles Pan American Games 2011 Guadalajara Women's singles 2011 Guadalajara Women's doubles 2015 Toronto Women's singles 2019 Lima Women's singles 2015 Toronto Women's doubles Pan Am Championships 2013 Santo Domingo Women's singles 2014 Markham Women's singles 2018 Guatemala City Women's singles 2019 Aguascalientes Women's singles 2022 San Salvador Women's singles 2023 Kingston Women's singles 2010 Curitiba Women's singles 2010 Curitiba Women's doubles 2024 Guatemala City Women's singles 2008 Lima Mixed doubles 2013 Santo Domingo Women's doubles Pan Am Mixed Team Championships 2008 Lima Mixed team 2010 Curitiba Mixed team 2013 Santo Domingo Mixed team 2014 Markham Mixed team 2023 Guadalajara Mixed team Pan Am Women's Team Championships 2018 Tacarigua Women's team 2020 Salvador Women's team 2024 São Paulo Women's team Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 Pune Girls' doubles
BWF profile

Michelle Li (born November 3, 1991) is a Canadian badminton player.^[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 American Badminton Championships. As a competitor for Ontario, Li also won singles, doubles, and mixed team titles at the 2011 Canada Winter Games.

Michelle Li was born in Hong Kong to Chi Keung Li and Agnes Kwong; together with her 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]}

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 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 the singles event, Li was knocked out by Wang Yihan.^[8]

In 2013, Li entered 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 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.^[9] She thus became the first Canadian woman to win a singles gold in Commonwealth badminton.^[10] She also won the singles gold medal at the 2014 Pan Am Badminton Championships in her home city, Markham, later that year.

At the 2015 Pan American Games, Li successfully defended her title, defeating fellow Canadian Rachel Honderich in the final.^[11]

In 2016, she qualified to represent Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics but was defeated by P. V. Sindhu (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 in 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, and 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. Li also won her first Macau Open title by defeating the Olympic gold medalist, Li Xuerui (21-15, 21-18) in the quarterfinals in the same year.

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 also reached another semi-finals in the 2019 Korea Open after defeating the No. 4 seed, Nozomi Okuhara (21-23, 21-16, 21-19). In the same year, she successfully defended her title again at the 2019 Pan American Games.

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.^[12]

In 2022, Li won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after defeating Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland in the semi-finals and losing to P. V. Sindhu in the final.^[13] In the same year, Li also made a breakthrough in the 2022 BWF World Championships by defeating the eighth seed, Ratchanok Intanon, 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 getting into the quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships since 2011.^[14][15]

In the 2023 BWF World Championships, Li retired from the competition owing to aggravating knee injury. This resulted in her absence from the remaining competitions of the BWF circuit and missing the 2023 Pan American Games in the same year. She made her comeback by entering the semi-finals in the 2024 German Open after beating the fourth seed, Pornpawee Chochuwong (21-19, 21-18).

She qualified to represent Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics but was defeated by Akane Yamaguchi (24-22, 17-21, 12-21) and ranked 2nd in the group stage of women's singles.

Women's singles

Year	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result
2014	Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland	Kirsty Gilmour	21–14, 21–7	Gold
2022	National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, England	P. V. Sindhu	15–21, 13–21	Silver

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

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
2022	Palacio de los Deportes Carlos "El Famoso" Hernández, San Salvador, El Salvador	Beiwen Zhang	21–18, 16–21, 25–23	Gold
2023	G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, Kingston, Jamaica	Beiwen Zhang	21–19, 21–9	Gold
2024	Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Beiwen Zhang	18–21, 21–18, 17–21	Silver

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 doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Club de Regatas, Lima, Peru	Adrian Liu	Toby Ng Valerie Loker	14–21, 15–21	Bronze

Girls' doubles

Year	Venue	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2008	Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, India	Alexandra Bruce	P. C. Thulasi N. Sikki Reddy	18–21, 8–21	Silver

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,^[16] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (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.^[17]

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
2022	Canada Open	Super 100	Sung Shuo-yun	21–16, 21–15	Winner

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

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

Women's singles

Year	Tournament	Opponent	Score	Result
2010	Peru International	Manami Ebuchi	18–21, 17–21	Runner-up
2010	Canadian International	Hitomi Oka	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	Disha Gupta	21–10, 21–10	Winner
2022	Canadian International	Natsuki Nidaira	21–11, 21–17	Winner

Women's doubles

Year	Tournament	Partner	Opponent	Score	Result
2011	Banuinvest International	Alex Bruce	Sonia Olariu Florentina Petre	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	Yang Chih-hsun	Phillip Chew Jamie Subandhi	13–21, 19–21	Runner-up
2013	USA International	Toby Ng	Halim Haryanto Jing Yu Hong	21–16, 21–15	Winner
2014	Peru International	Derrick Ng	Christian Yahya Christianto Eva Lee	16–21, 18–21	Runner-up

  BWF International Challenge tournament

  BWF International Series tournament

Key

• Senior level

Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 15 October 2024.^[18]

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Petya Nedelcheva 1 1 0 +1 Chen Yufei 12 1 11 –10 He Bingjiao 9 0 9 –9 Li Xuerui 3 1 2 –1 Wang Shixian 1 0 1 –1 Wang Xin 1 0 1 –1 Wang Yihan 6 0 6 –6 Zhang Yiman 1 1 0 +1 Cheng Shao-chieh 1 0 1 –1 Tai Tzu-ying 11 2 9 –7 Tine Baun 2 0 2 –2 Tracey Hallam 1 1 0 +1 Pi Hongyan 1 0 1 –1 Juliane Schenk 3 0 3 –3 Yip Pui Yin 5 3 2 +1

Players Matches Results Difference Won Lost Saina Nehwal 3 1 2 –1 P. V. Sindhu 14 4 10 –6 Lindaweni Fanetri 2 0 2 –2 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 4 1 3 –2 Minatsu Mitani 4 1 3 –2 Aya Ohori 4 1 3 –2 Nozomi Okuhara 13 4 9 –5 Akane Yamaguchi 9 0 9 –9 An Se-young 5 0 5 –5 Bae Yeon-ju 3 0 3 –3 Sung Ji-hyun 6 3 3 0 Carolina Marín 7 2 5 –3 Porntip Buranaprasertsuk 2 1 1 0 Ratchanok Intanon 9 2 7 –5

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michelle Li.

• Michelle Li at BWF.TournamentSoftware.com
• Michelle Li at BWFBadminton.com
• Michelle Li at Badminton Canada (archived)
• Michelle Li at Team Canada
• Michelle Li at Olympedia
• Michelle Li at Olympics.com
• Michelle Li at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics
• Michelle Li at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games
• Michelle Li at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)