Li Xuerui


Li Xuerui 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 Olympic in the women's singles event and was the silver medalists in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships. Li Xuerui had won fourteen Superseries titles, confirmed her name as China's second most successful player after Wang Yihan. She reached a career high of no. 1 in the women's singles for 124 weeks. Li graduated with a BA from Huaqiao University.

Career summary

Li Xuerui started playing badminton since she was 7 years old, she began playing in local clubs in her hometown in Chongqing. She made her professional debut as a badminton player when she attended the Asia Junior championship which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2008

In 2008, she won gold medal the Asian Junior championship, which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

2010

In 2010, Li Xuerui won her first Grand Prix Gold title at the Macau Open, at the time in the final she defeated Adrianti Firdasari from Indonesia with a score of 21–18, 21–15.
Li won her first major tournament, the Asian Championships. In the final she defeated her compatriot, Liu Xin 21–13, 18–21, 21–19.

2012

In 2012, she repeated her success at the Asian Championships by defeating Wang Yihan with a score of 21–16, 16–21, 21–9.
Li won the prestigious Super Series Premier event title at the All England Open for the first time by beating Wang Yihan in the final with a score of 21–13, 21–19.
She then captured another international titles in India Open, China Open, and Hong Kong Open.
She has collected five Super Series titles, including the Super Series Final in Dubai which she won with defeated Wang Shixian in the final.
The 2012 season could be said to be the career peak for Li Xuerui. She made her first appearance at the Olympic Games, and on August 5, she won the London Olympic gold medal, in the final she defeated fellow compatriot Wang Yihan with the rubber games with a score of 21–15, 21–23, 21–17.

2013

In 2013, she won a silver medal in the World Championship when she was defeated by Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon with a score of 22–20, 18–21, 14–21.
At the same year, she won three Super Series titles in the Indonesia Open, China Open and the Super Series Final.

2014

In 2014, she succeeded to the World Championships final, then she lost to the Spanish player Carolina Marín with a score of 21–17, 17–21, 18–21.
Li managed to win four Super Series titles including successfully defending her title in Indonesia Open, other titles: Japan Open, Malaysia Open, and Denmark Open.

2015

In 2015, Li Xuerui managed to defend her title at the Denmark Open at that time in the final she defeated P. V. Sindhu of India with a score of 21-19, 21-12.

2016 Summer Olympics: heartbreak and injury issues

At the 2016 Summer Olympics women's singles semi-finals, Li Xuerui was defeated by world No. 1 Carolina Marín when she suffered injuries to her anterior cruciate ligament and lateral meniscus. This forced her to withdraw from the bronze medal match against Nozomi Okuhara.

2018: Return to professional badminton

Li made her return to professional badminton at the 2017 National Games of China, where she played women's doubles but lost at the group stage. The reason for why she had played doubles instead of singles was that she was not yet fully recovered. In 2018, she made her return to international women's singles after a hiatus of 600 days at the 2018 Lingshui China Masters, which she won.

2019

In 2019, she played 25 times with 11 wins and 14 losses. She made to the quarter final at the All England Open, stopped by the 2017 World Champion from Japan Nozomi Okuhara with a score of 17–21, 14–21. After that, finished as the runner-up at the New Zealand Open, losing to South Korean youngster An Se-young with a score of 19–21, 15–21.
She lost out to Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-18, 20-22, 6-21 In Australian Open despite leading in the 2nd game. Then afterwards, her career witnessed a huge downfall. She competed in Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and China and lost in all of its 1st round matches. She announced her retirement from the international circuit in the 1st round match against Sayaka Takahashi in Korea Open dated 17th October after trailing in the 2nd game 15-21, 3-11.

Achievements

Olympic Games

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2012Wembley Arena, London, United Kingdom Wang Yihan21–15, 21–23, 21–17 Gold

World Championships

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2014Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark Carolina Marín21–17, 17–21, 18–21 Silver
2013Tianhe Sports Center, Guangzhou, China Ratchanok Intanon20–22, 21–18, 14–21 Silver

Asian Games

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2014Gyeyang Gymnasium, Incheon, South Korea Wang Yihan21–11, 17–21, 7–21 Silver

Asian Championships

Women's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2016Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China Wang Yihan14–21, 21–13, 16–21 Silver
2015Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China Ratchanok Intanon22–20, 21–23, 12–21 Silver
2013Taipei Arena, Taipei, Taiwan Wang Yihan15–21, 13–21 Silver
2012Qingdao Sports Centre Conson Stadium, Qingdao, China Wang Yihan21–16, 16–21, 21–9 Gold
2010Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India Liu Xin21–13, 18–21, 21–19 Gold

Asian Junior Championships

Girls' singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2008Stadium Juara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Wang Shixian22–20, 21–13 Gold

BWF World Tour

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
2019New Zealand OpenSuper 300 An Se-young19–21, 15–21 Runner-up
2018Korea MastersSuper 300 Han Yue21–10, 21–18 Winner
2018Canada OpenSuper 100 Sayaka Takahashi22–20, 15–21, 21–17 Winner
2018U.S. OpenSuper 300 Zhang Beiwen24–26, 21–15, 21–11 Winner
2018Lingshui China MastersSuper 100 Kim Ga-eun16–21, 21–16, 21–18 Winner

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation. BWF Superseries has two levels: Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.
Women's singles
YearTournamentOpponentScoreResult
2016India Open Ratchanok Intanon17–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2015China Open Saina Nehwal21–12, 21–15 Winner
2015Denmark Open P. V. Sindhu21–19, 21–12 Winner
2015Malaysia Open Carolina Marín21–19, 19–21, 17–21 Runner-up
2014French Open Wang Shixian15–21, 3–8r Runner-up
2014Denmark Open Wang Yihan21–17, 22–20 Winner
2014Indonesia Open Ratchanok Intanon21–13, 21–13 Winner
2014Japan Open Tai Tzu-ying21–16, 21–6 Winner
2014Singapore Open Wang Yihan11–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2014India Open Wang Shixian20–22, 19–21 Runner-up
2014All England Open Wang Shixian19–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2014Malaysia Open Wang Shixian21–16, 21–17 Winner
2013Super Series Masters Finals Tai Tzu-ying21–8, 21–14 Winner
2013China Open Wang Shixian16–21, 21–17, 21–19 Winner
2013Singapore Open Wang Yihan18–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2013Indonesia Open Juliane Schenk21–16, 18–21, 21–17 Winner
2012Super Series Masters Finals Wang Shixian21–9, 15–4r Winner
2012Hong Kong Open Wang Yihan21–12, 11–3r Winner
2012China Open Ratchanok Inthanon21–12, 21–9 Winner
2012Indonesia Open Saina Nehwal21–13, 20–22, 19–21 Runner-up
2012India Open Juliane Schenk14–21, 21–17, 21–8 Winner
2012All England Open Wang Yihan21–13, 21–19 Winner
2011French Open Wang Xin15–21, 19–21 Runner-up
2010French Open Wang Yihan13–21, 9–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix

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
2016China Masters Sun Yu21–16, 19–21, 21–6 Winner
2016German Open Wang Shixian21–14, 21–17 Winner
2015Chinese Taipei Open Wang Yihan10–21, 9–21 Runner-up
2012German Open Juliane Schenk21–19, 21–16 Winner
2011Bitburger Open Yao Jie21–8, 21–9 Winner
2011Thailand Open Jiang Yanjiao14–21, 21–14, 21–14 Winner
2010Korea Masters Liu Xin9–21, 14–21 Runner-up
2010Macau Open Adriyanti Firdasari21–18, 21–15 Winner

Performance timeline

Singles performance timeline

To avoid confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through 2016 Indonesia Open.

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.