BWF World Championships: ‘There’s still that fire inside me’: Michelle Li, 34, ready for Akane Yamaguchi challenge
Michelle Li in action Photograph: (BAI)
Michelle Li embraces long badminton battles after beating Tomoka Miyazaki and now faces Akane Yamaguchi in the BWF World Championships quarterfinal
Michelle Li may be 34, but the Canadian veteran insists the fire to compete, and win, is burning as brightly as ever. After battling past Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki in a three-game thriller at the BWF World Championships, Li admitted that she relishes exactly these kinds of contests: long, intense battles where momentum constantly shifts and every point becomes a test of nerve. “I enjoy every bit of it. I love the fact that it's always back and forth and there's rallies and the chess game of it, I really enjoy,” Li said after her victory.
Li had chances to close out the match more comfortably but was forced into a tense third game after allowing Miyazaki to fight her way back. The Canadian admitted that nerves and unforced errors nearly cost her after she had built a healthy lead in the decider. “I think not letting nerves get in the way and I think clean up my own unforced errors. I think I had a very good lead in the third, but I made too many unforced errors which gave her the confidence to come back and made it a lot tighter than it needed to be,” she said.
But rather than viewing the long match as a burden, Li sees it as an opportunity. “I don't specifically mind it, but obviously if I could win in straight, that would be really good for the confidence,” she said. “But I think being able to pull it out in three is also a good time spent on court and just more time to get used to different scenarios.” That mindset will be tested again when Li faces another Japanese opponent in the quarterfinals, former world no. 1 and two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.
Li knows the challenge that awaits. “It's always a tough match against Akane. I think she's always had my number, but I think I'm not going to think too much about the past,” she said. “Obviously, tomorrow is a different day and I think I'll be ready and I'm feeling good.” Li also refused to look too far ahead, with South Korea's Sim Yu Jin another possible opponent depending on the draw and results. “It's always a tough match against Akane… I'm ready for a tough battle tomorrow and hopefully I can perform really well,” she said.
The Canadian heads into the quarterfinal with confidence, although she knows there are still areas she needs to sharpen. “I'm feeling confident. I think I was showing it in the third game today that I'm ready and I think I have to clean up some of my focus and nerves, but I think tomorrow I'll keep focused and do better.” At 34, Li is also enjoying a career phase that she feels is surprisingly different from where she was a decade ago. “I think right now my body feels better than it did 10 years ago which is very surprising and shocking,” she said.
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Li credited the support around her for helping her continue competing at the highest level. “I feel I have the right team and support right now that I never had since before Paris,” she said. “I'm very grateful for my club, for my team, for my therapist, for even my boyfriend. Everybody that's supporting me right now has really uplifted me and there's still that fire inside me to compete with even people that are half my age.”
For Li, the motivation is simple: enjoy the sport while continuing to challenge herself. “I'm trying not to think too much about that and just kind of enjoy the game and just do my best,” she said. Li and fellow Canadian Victor Lai have both reached the quarterfinals, with Lai already assured of a medal. For Li, that represents a dramatic change from the Canada she represented when she first appeared at the World Championships. “You rewind that to any other world championships, you wouldn't even see a Canadian,” she said. “So it's like for me, starting from the beginning when I first played my first world championships, Canada wasn't even competitive.”
Now, with two Canadians in the last eight, Li believes the country's rise can inspire an entirely new generation. “It really lifts the standards and it has given a lot of hope and inspiration to the next generation from Canada and that we can definitely be competitive and we can definitely change the sport globally, not just in Asia.”
There is also another looming change that Li will have to adapt to. Asked about the proposed 15-point scoring system, she admitted she is not particularly fond of the idea. “I'm not totally fond of the 15 points, but I think we all have to adapt and I really think that the athletes will adapt and we'll find a way. But it's just a different game,” she said.
For Li, what could be lost is the drama that comes with a long badminton battle. “The long battles is what makes it exciting. I think that's what makes it like, who's going to win? And it's just the test of the athlete's will,” she said. “When it's 15 points, sometimes it ends too quickly.” But before worrying about the future of badminton, Li has a much more immediate challenge: Yamaguchi. And after a three-game battle that tested her nerves, fitness and resilience, the Canadian veteran believes she is ready for another chess match.
