Li Xuerui

Summary

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 in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships.[1][2] Li Xuerui won fourteen Superseries titles, confirming her status 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.[3]

Li Xuerui
李雪芮
Personal information
CountryChina
Born (1991-01-24) 24 January 1991 (age 33)
Chongqing, China
ResidenceBeijing, China
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8+12 in)
Years activeSince 2007
Retired17 October 2019
HandednessRight
CoachChen Jin
Women's singles
Career record330 wins, 79 losses
Career title(s)27
Highest ranking1 (20 December 2012)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  China
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2012 London Women's singles
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2013 Guangzhou Women's singles
Silver medal – second place 2014 Copenhagen Women's singles
Sudirman Cup
Gold medal – first place 2013 Kuala Lumpur Mixed team
Gold medal – first place 2015 Dongguan Mixed team
Silver medal – second place 2017 Gold Coast Mixed team
Uber Cup
Gold medal – first place 2012 Wuhan Women's team
Gold medal – first place 2014 New Delhi Women's team
Gold medal – first place 2016 Kunshan Women's team
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Bangkok Women's team
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Incheon Women's team
Silver medal – second place 2014 Incheon Women's singles
Asian Championships
Gold medal – first place 2010 New Delhi Women's singles
Gold medal – first place 2012 Qingdao Women's singles
Silver medal – second place 2013 Taipei Women's singles
Silver medal – second place 2015 Wuhan Women's singles
Silver medal – second place 2016 Wuhan Women's singles
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Waitakere City Mixed team
Gold medal – first place 2008 Pune Mixed team
Asian Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Kuala Lumpur Girls' singles
Gold medal – first place 2008 Kuala Lumpur Mixed team
BWF profile
Li Xuerui
Traditional Chinese李雪芮
Simplified Chinese李雪芮

Career summary edit

Li Xuerui started playing badminton when 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.

 
Li Xuerui at the US Open 2011

2008 edit

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

2010 edit

In 2010, Li Xuerui won her first Grand Prix Gold title at the Macau Open, 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 edit

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 other international titles in India Open, China Open, and Hong Kong Open.

She collected five Super Series titles, including the Super Series Final in Dubai which she won defeating 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 compatriot Wang Yihan with a score of 21–15, 21–23, 21–17.

2013 edit

In 2013, she won a silver medal in the World Championship when she was defeated by Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in the final with a score of 22–20, 18–21, 14–21.

In the same year, she won three Super Series titles in the Indonesia Open, China Open and the Super Series Final.

2014 edit

In 2014, she reached 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, the other titles were: Japan Open, Malaysia Open, and Denmark Open.

2015 edit

In 2015, Li Xuerui managed to defend her title at the Denmark Open. 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 edit

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 (ACL) and lateral meniscus. This forced her to withdraw from the bronze medal match against Nozomi Okuhara.

2018: Return to professional badminton edit

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 she had played doubles instead of singles was that she was not yet fully recovered.[4] 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.[5]

2019 edit

In 2019, she played 25 times with 11 wins and 14 losses. She reached the quarter final at the All England Open, but was stopped by the 2017 World Champion from Japan Nozomi Okuhara with a score of 17–21, 14–21.[6] After that, she 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.[7]

She lost to Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-18, 20-22, 6-21 at the Australian Open despite leading in the second game. Afterwards, her career witnessed a huge downfall. She competed in Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and China and lost in the first round in all the tournaments. She announced her retirement from the international circuit in the first round match against Sayaka Takahashi in Korea Open on 17 October after trailing in the 2nd game 15-21, 3-11.[8]

Achievements edit

Olympic Games edit

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2012 Wembley Arena, London, Great Britain   Wang Yihan 21–15, 21–23, 21–17   Gold

World Championships edit

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2013 Tianhe Sports Center, Guangzhou, China   Ratchanok Intanon 20–22, 21–18, 14–21   Silver
2014 Ballerup Super Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark   Carolina Marín 21–17, 17–21, 18–21   Silver

Asian Games edit

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2014 Gyeyang Gymnasium, Incheon, South Korea   Wang Yihan 21–11, 17–21, 7–21   Silver

Asian Championships edit

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2010 Siri Fort Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, India   Liu Xin 21–13, 18–21, 21–19   Gold
2012 Qingdao Sports Centre Conson Stadium, Qingdao, China   Wang Yihan 21–16, 16–21, 21–9   Gold
2013 Taipei Arena, Taipei, Taiwan   Wang Yihan 15–21, 13–21   Silver
2015 Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China   Ratchanok Intanon 22–20, 21–23, 12–21   Silver
2016 Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China   Wang Yihan 14–21, 21–13, 16–21   Silver

World University Championships edit

Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2010 Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Chinese Taipei   Liu Xin 21–12, 21–14   Gold

Women's doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
2010 Taipei Gymnasium, Taipei, Chinese Taipei   Liu Xin   Cheng Shu
  Ma Jin
Walkover   Silver

Asian Junior Championships edit

Girls' singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2008 Stadium Juara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia   Wang Shixian 22–20, 21–13   Gold

BWF World Tour edit

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018,[9] is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.[10]

Women's singles

Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result
2018 Lingshui China Masters Super 100   Kim Ga-eun 16–21, 21–16, 21–18   Winner
2018 U.S. Open Super 300   Beiwen Zhang 24–26, 21–15, 21–11   Winner
2018 Canada Open Super 100   Sayaka Takahashi 22–20, 15–21, 21–17   Winner
2018 Korea Masters Super 300   Han Yue 21–10, 21–18   Winner
2019 New Zealand Open Super 300   An Se-young 19–21, 15–21   Runner-up

BWF Superseries edit

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). 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

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2010 French Open   Wang Yihan 13–21, 9–21   Runner-up
2011 French Open   Wang Xin 15–21, 19–21   Runner-up
2012 All England Open   Wang Yihan 21–13, 21–19   Winner
2012 India Open   Juliane Schenk 14–21, 21–17, 21–8   Winner
2012 Indonesia Open   Saina Nehwal 21–13, 20–22, 19–21   Runner-up
2012 China Open   Ratchanok Intanon 21–12, 21–9   Winner
2012 Hong Kong Open   Wang Yihan 21–12, 11–3 retired   Winner
2012 World Superseries Finals   Wang Shixian 21–9, 15–4 retired   Winner
2013 Indonesia Open   Juliane Schenk 21–16, 18–21, 21–17   Winner
2013 Singapore Open   Wang Yihan 18–21, 12–21   Runner-up
2013 China Open   Wang Shixian 16–21, 21–17, 21–19   Winner
2013 World Superseries Finals   Tai Tzu-ying 21–8, 21–14   Winner
2014 Malaysia Open   Wang Shixian 21–16, 21–17   Winner
2014 All England Open   Wang Shixian 19–21, 18–21   Runner-up
2014 India Open   Wang Shixian 20–22, 19–21   Runner-up
2014 Singapore Open   Wang Yihan 11–21, 19–21   Runner-up
2014 Japan Open   Tai Tzu-ying 21–16, 21–6   Winner
2014 Indonesia Open   Ratchanok Intanon 21–13, 21–13   Winner
2014 Denmark Open   Wang Yihan 21–17, 22–20   Winner
2014 French Open   Wang Shixian 15–21, 3–8 retired   Runner-up
2015 Malaysia Open   Carolina Marín 21–19, 19–21, 17–21   Runner-up
2015 Denmark Open   P. V. Sindhu 21–19, 21–12   Winner
2015 China Open   Saina Nehwal 21–12, 21–15   Winner
2016 India Open   Ratchanok Intanon 17–21, 18–21   Runner-up
  BWF Superseries Finals tournament
  BWF Superseries Premier tournament
  BWF Superseries tournament

BWF Grand Prix edit

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
2010 Macau Open   Adriyanti Firdasari 21–18, 21–15   Winner
2010 Korea Grand Prix   Liu Xin 9–21, 14–21   Runner-up
2011 Thailand Open   Jiang Yanjiao 14–21, 21–14, 21–14   Winner
2011 Bitburger Open   Yao Jie 21–8, 21–9   Winner
2012 German Open   Juliane Schenk 21–19, 21–16   Winner
2015 Chinese Taipei Open   Wang Yihan 10–21, 9–21   Runner-up
2016 German Open   Wang Shixian 21–14, 21–17   Winner
2016 China Masters   Sun Yu 21–16, 19–21, 21–6   Winner
  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
  BWF Grand Prix tournament

Performance timeline edit

Singles performance timeline edit

Key
W F SF QF #R RR Q# A G S B NH N/A DNQ
(W) won; (F) finalist; (SF) semi-finalist; (QF) quarter-finalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze medal; (NH) not held; (N/A) not applicable; (DNQ) did not qualify.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

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.

Tournament 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 SR W–L Win %
Summer Olympics NH A Not Held G
6–0
Not Held 4th
4–1
1 / 2 10–1 91%
World Championships A NH Absent NH S
4–1
S
4–1
3R
1–1
NH 0 / 3 9–3 75%
World Superseries Finals NH Absent W
5–0
W
5–0
Absent 2 / 2 10–0 100%
Asian Championships Absent G
8–0
QF
2–1
G
5–0
S
4–1
A S
4–1
S
4–1
2 / 6 27–4 87%
Asian Games Not Held A Not Held S
3–1
Not Held 0 / 1 3–1 75%
East Asian Games Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 0 / 0
Team Competitions
Uber Cup NH A NH A NH G
2–0
NH G
6–0
NH G
5–0
3 / 3 13–0 100%
Sudirman Cup A NH A NH A NH G
3–0
NH G
3–0
NH 2 / 2 6–0 100%
Asian Games Not Held A Not Held G
3–0
Not Held 1 / 1 3–0 100%
Uber Cup Asia preliminaries Not Held S
4–0
Not Held A 0 / 1 4–0 100%
East Asian Games Not Held A Not Held A Not Held 0 / 0
BWF World Superseries Premier
All England Open Absent 2R
1–1
W
5–0
1R
0–1
F
4–1
2R
1–1
QF
2–1
1 / 6 13–5 72%
Malaysia Open Absent 2R
1–1
QF
2–1
A W
5–0
F
4–1
2R
1–1
1 / 5 13–4 76%
Indonesia Open Absent 2R
1–1
F
4–1
W
5–0
W
5–0
2R
1–1
2R
1–1
2 / 6 17–4 81%
Denmark Open Absent QF
2–1
QF
2–1
QF
2–1
QF
2–1
W
5–0
W
5–0
A 2 / 6 18–4 82%
China Open Q1
0–1
QF
3–1
SF
5–1
2R
1–1
SF
3–1
W
5–0
W
5–0
A W
5–0
A 3 / 8 27–5 84%
BWF World Superseries
India Open NH Absent W
5–0
A F
4–1
A F
4–1
1 / 3 14–2 88%
Singapore Open Absent QF
4–1
Absent F
4–1
F
4–1
Absent 0 / 3 12–3 80%
Australian Open QF
2–1
SF
3–1
0 / 2 5–2 71%
Japan Open Absent 1R
0–1
W
5–0
QF
2–1
A 1 / 3 7–2 78%
Korea Open Absent 1R
0–1
QF
2–1
1R
0–1
A QF
2–1
A 0 / 4 4–4 50%
French Open Absent F
4–1
F
4–1
Absent F
4–1
QF
2–1
A 0 / 4 14–4 78%
Hong Kong Open Absent W
5–0
QF
2–1
A 1R
0–1
A 1 / 3 7–2 78%
BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix
Malaysia Masters Not Held Q1
0–1
Absent 0 / 1 0–1 0%
German Open Absent W
5–0
QF
2–1
Absent W
5–0
2 / 3 12–1 92%
China Masters Absent 1R
1–1
2R
1–1
1R
0–1
QF
1–1
SF
3–1
Absent W
5–0
1 / 6 11–5 69%
Chinese Taipei Open Absent F
4–1
A 0 / 1 4–1 80%
U.S. Open Absent QF
2–1
Absent 0 / 1 2–1 67%
Thailand Open Absent NH W
5–0
Absent NH Absent 1 / 1 5–0 100%
Bitburger Open Absent 2R
1–1
W
5–0
Absent 1 / 2 6–1 86%
Korea Open Absent F
4–1
SF
3–1
Absent 0 / 2 7–2 78%
Macau Open Absent Q2
1–1
W
5–0
SF
3–1
Absent 1 / 3 9–2 82%
Career Statistics
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Tournaments Played 1 1 4 9 14 15 14 12 14 10 94
Titles 0 0 0 2 2 9 4 6 3 3 29
Finals Reached 0 0 0 4 4 11 7 12 6 5 49
Overall win–loss 0–1 3–1 7–4 30–7 32–12 58–5 39–10 52–6 36–11 34–7 291–64
Win Percentage 0% 75% 64% 81% 73% 92% 80% 90% 77% 83% 81.97%
Year End Ranking[11] 146 11 9 1 1 1 3 8

Record against selected opponents edit

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ "Olympics badminton: China's Li wins women's singles gold". www.bbc.co.uk (in Chinese). 4 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ "李雪芮遭黑马逆转丢冠 称已尽力期待来年大满贯". sports.163.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ "探访奥运冠军林丹李雪芮母校:国立华侨大学". www.chinanews.com (in Chinese). 11 August 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  4. ^ "Olympic champion Li Xuerui returns one year after injury". Xinhua News Agency. 30 August 2017. Archived from the original on March 13, 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Olympic champion Li Xuerui returns to international badminton after 600 days". Xinhua News Agency. 11 April 2018. Archived from the original on April 16, 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  6. ^ Green, Lloyd (9 March 2019). "Rookies Progress, Big Guns Fire – All England: Day 3". bwfbadminton.com. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  7. ^ "A New Star is Born – NZ Open: Finals". Badminton New Zealand. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2020 – via bwfbadminton.com.
  8. ^ Sukumar, Dev (17 October 2019). "Li Xue Rui Announces Retirement". BWF Olympics. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  9. ^ Alleyne, Gayle (19 March 2017). "BWF Launches New Events Structure". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  10. ^ Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Badminton World Federation – Historical Ranking".
  12. ^ "Li Xue Rui Head to Head". bwf.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

External links edit

  • Li Xuerui at BWF.tournamentsoftware.com
  • Li Xuerui at BWFbadminton.com
  • Li Xuerui at BadmintonLink.com
  • (in Chinese) Li Xue Rui at BadmintonCN.com