CANADA WINS BADMINTON GOLD MEDALS IN SANTIAGO 2023

The Canadians won four of the five categories and took bronze in the last one.

The Canadian team was the absolute dominant in the badminton competition at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. They won gold in four categories: women’s doubles, men’s doubles, men’s singles and mixed doubles. In the remaining event, the women’s individual, they won the bronze medal. In addition, its player Josephine Wu became a two-time Pan American Games champion in mixed doubles.

The exciting badminton final between Canada, USA, Brazil and the Independent Athletes team took place at the Olympic Training Centre. Canada continues to stand out in the discipline by leading the historical medal table for this discipline at the Pan American Games. With the medals obtained at Santiago 2023, Canada reaches 21 gold medals in badminton at the Pan American Games and is the absolute dominator of this sport.

Joséphine Wu and Alexander Lindeman, the favorite duo for gold, won the medal and made Wu double champion in the mixed doubles category at Santiago 2023. The victory marks Wu’s second medal in this specialty after the gold that she won at Lima 2019 with Joshua Hurlburt-Yu. This time his success came from Lindeman. The Canadians demonstrated their dominance and won 17-21, 21-17, 21-19 against Americans Vinson Chiu and Jennie Gai. The bronze medal went to Peruvians Inés Castillo and José Guevara, as well as Brazilians Sania Passos and Davi Carvalho.

“This victory is different. I have a different partner and it’s a different feeling, even though I won in Lima, I feel like it means more to me because I repeated it. It means a lot to me,” Josephine Wu said.

Once again, Josephine Wu, but this time with Catherine Choi, scored a victory over sisters Annie and Kerry Xu of the United States by 21-18, 10-21 and 21-17, which earned her the title of Pan American champion in the women’s doubles category.

“I think it was an emotional victory for us. I dedicate this medal to everyone who helped me in my training, because there are not many players from my city. So to everyone who helped me during all this time and to my coaches, of course,” explained Joséphine Wu.

In men’s doubles, Nyl Yakura and Xingyu Dong defeated Fabricio Rocha and Davi Carvalho 2-1. Even though Brazil, favorite for gold, took the lead in the first set (19-21), the Canadians held on and recovered in the following sets (21-15, 21-18). This victory is particularly significant for Dong, as it marks his notable return to the sport. The silver medal went to the Brazilians, while the bronze medal went to the Mexicans Empleo Garrido and Luis Montoya, as well as the Guatemalans Jonathan Solís and Lesvín Marroquín.

“I retired 7 years ago and I came back from retirement and showed that I can still be the best in the region and the world. The medal is dedicated to my family, who helped me from the beginning. It’s not the most popular sport in Canada, so the fact that my parents support it, financially and everything, means a lot to my family, to my club and to everyone who has supported me from my childhood until today hui,” explains Xingyu Dong.

Lima 2019 silver medalist Brian Yang scored a resounding 2-0 (21-18, 21-6) victory over Independent Athletes Team representative Kevin Cordón, who holds the competitor’s record with the most medals. at the Pan American Games. Cordón, with two gold medals (Toronto 2015 and Guadalajara 2011), two silvers (Río 2007 and Santiago 2023) and one bronze (Lima 2019), won silver. The podium was completed by the Salvadoran Uriel Canjura and the Mexican Luis Garrido, who won the bronze medal.

The gold medal in the women’s individual category remained in the hands of the United States. Beiwen Zhang defeated compatriot Jennie Gai 2-1, who won the silver medal, in a contest where Zhang led throughout the match (21-8, 21-12). The bronze medal went to Canadian Rachel Chan and Cuban Taymara Oropesa.

Written by Magdalena Peña.