When Michelle Li was 10 years old, she and her mom decided to try badminton at a Richmond Hill community centre. Something clicked, and the younger Li, now 25, ended up in lessons at Lee’s Badminton Centre in a nondescript office plaza off Woodbine Avenue in Markham. 

And it’s at Lee’s that she’s stayed for more than a dozen years, progressing from local to provincial, national and now international tournaments, where she went from being a relative unknown to a top 20 player capable of winning on a big stage. She has won gold at competitions such as the Commonwealth Games and the 2015 Pan Am Games, on her home turf in Markham and has become the face of the sport in Canada.

“I liked the satisfaction of hitting it really hard,” she says, stretching on the sidelines after one of her twice daily training sessions at Lee’s. “But it takes a lot of work. It’s not just one aspect. You don’t just have to be strong. You have to be fast, have good tactics, technique and skill. And you have to have the mental focus to read your opponent.”

In countries such as China and Indonesia, badminton is the top sport. It’s like hockey, and players at the top of the game are celebrities. In Canada, there is Michelle Li. There is no professional badminton in Canada; it is strictly an amateur sport. She travels to tournaments for two weeks of every month to face the best competition. Often she travels alone or with her coach.

“I had nobody to look up to,” she says. “In China, there are generations of world champions as coaches to show the younger players. For me, it’s hard to find people to practise with.”

She says it gets lonely. And that helps her stay motivated to bring home the results that she hopes will one day convince other younger players to stick with it. Today, any of the top 20 players in the world could stand on top of the podium in Rio. Li is on the mend after some nagging injuries and will use tournaments in Calgary and Los Angeles in the next few weeks to start her final push to Rio.