Canadian shuttlers continue to battle structural hurdles

An unexpected medal at the World Championships catapulted Victor Lai into the limelight, but behind the breakthrough lies a story of sustained struggle for most Canadian shuttlers. No Canadian had won a medal at the World Championships until the 21-year-old Lai ended the drought with a men’s singles bronze in Paris last year.

“Last year was a big roller-coaster, with lots of highs and lows. At the beginning of the year I was losing in the first round of International Series tournaments. So, to go from that to the World Championships was pretty crazy,” Lai told reporters on Tuesday. The world No. 19 made a winning start to his India Open Super 750

campaign with a 21-12, 16-21, 21-8 victory at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here. Lai is the latest Canadian shuttler to make an impact on the global stage. Olympian Brian Yang, a Pan American Games gold medallist currently ranked 32, has also delivered steady results for the country.

However, carving out a professional badminton career in Canada remains a major challenge. With the sport drawing limited attention, players often have to self-fund their international campaigns while also struggling to find quality sparring partners. “Definitely the two hardest things are sponsorships, money, and then jet lag. No one experiences it like Canadians and Americans because every time we travel we have to deal with jet lag,” Lai said.

“Actually we don’t get much financial support from Canada so it’s a little bit tough. Luckily, I have some sponsors back home, who are willing to support me but, before the Worlds, it was very, very hard. “We have a national team but we don’t have a national centre. So we all train at different clubs, which makes it a little hard to spar with each other.” Both Lai and Yang are following the path laid by their senior Michelle Li, a Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist in 2014 and 2022.

“When I first started, the Canadian badminton team was looked down upon, so it’s nice to see future talent coming through. It proves that even without the best support we still have a lot of potential. It breaks stereotypes and makes the impossible possible,” the 34-year-old Li said. “Self-funded is a big one. We don’t travel as a team so we don’t have a therapist, treatment support or a trainer. A lot of times you’re training on your own and it’s tough.

“Honestly it’s the prize money and now my club KCB sponsors me. I never had that until after the Paris Olympics. It took a long time and a lot of hard work to get here. “Now it feels like things are coming together but for juniors it’s still very tough. They still have to find funds and often use prize money to finance the next tournament.”