Michelle Li is well on her way to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Her preparations will include not just those punishing hours on court, but also intense brainstorming sessions off it—to arrange over $150,000 she would need to fund herself along with a travelling coach and phsyio for the crucial year. Despite the challenges, Li, a world No 10, backs herself to win Canada’s first Olympic medal in badminton.
Li’s parents moved to Canada from Hong Kong when she was young. Once she decided to take up badminton, she had to fund the costs herself—just like any professional in a global sport. The only difference is that badminton still doesn’t have enough money for a player like Li to sustain her career.
The Asian players manage with the backing of their governments and national federations, and the sponsorships they get because of the popularity of the sport in the region help them earn a living.
It’s well known that Asia drives badminton’s economy but outside it, if a player doesn’t have sound financial backing, it’s a struggle. The Badminton World Federation has restructured the international circuit with enhanced prize money, but it is still not enough for even a top-10 player like Li to make a living.
“No way that I will ever make as much money as someone like say a PV Sindhu or someone from Asia. We can have the same results but that’s it. It’s because of my passion that I keep going and somehow I make it work. It’s for this reason that Canadians are discouraged to take professional badminton because they don’t make money,” Li says.
“I have to manage everything on my own—flight tickets, hotels, salary of coach and physio and their travel. One year of expense is over $150,000 for three people right now. I guess it’s like tennis players. It’s just that they make a 100 times more than what we do. For me everything is out of my pocket, prize money. There is any lot more worry and stress that comes with it.”
The 28-year-old has Yonex to take care of her equipment and apparel, besides some incentives, but it’s never enough. Going deeper into the draw means more prize money to fuel her dream. In fact, she has never been able to plan her schedule for more than two months.
“I plan a month or two ahead but it really depends on my results because a lot of my income comes from my prize money, so if I do well then I can bounce out. I am always looking for sponsors, trying out different things,” she says.
But for the first time in her career she is ready for a gamble. In the wake of Olympics, she has decided to plan her schedule in advance. The previous year, she touched a career-high ranking of No 8 in November after winning Macau Open, and making it to semi-finals in China Open, Korea Open, and Japan Open, where she defeated Tai Tzu Ying.
The presence of coach and physio at her court side for major part of the year worked for her. “If I want to play and compete against top players, I have to maintain the level and intensity in each match.
“I need to recover well after every match. I can play one match really well but then if I can’t recover, or if in the middle of the game there is no one behind me to help I am at a disadvantage from the very beginning. All top players have a coach and physio.”
It’s a huge investment but she is willing to bite the bullet. “It’s a hit or miss, but at the same time I know I will be starting at the same level.”
“I am still working on the budget, obviously playing in the Premier Badminton League helps.”
PBL should ease her financial burden a bit; she was bought by North Eastern Warriors for ~ 20 lakh this season.
Li is at the peak of her career. In 2014 she became Canada’s first ever women’s singles gold medallist in Commonwealth Games—she defeated PV Sindhu in the semi-finals—but her career never took off. She was injured in the lead up to the Rio Olympics and had two surgeries—hip and knee. She was out of the circuit for one full year in 2017.
“It was tough. I was struggling to figure out if I even wanted to continue” she says.
“I wanted to try again because I felt like I hadn’t reached the level I wanted to. I thought I could do better. That sort of feeling motivated me to keep going.”
The return to circuit was perilous. She hired a coach for the first time but kept losing in the first rounds. It became difficult to keep going for next six months.
“That was the first year I had hired my sparring partner as coach. I remember I didn’t get to go home for six months because I needed to save money to pay for an extra person,” she says.
So, Li decided to base herself in Asia (Taiwan), train and play in tournaments. “The first three months were okay but then from the third, it became really hard. I was away from home. I didn’t enjoy it and it was a big factor in terms of how I performed.”
Back to Canada she did some soul searching. “The mindset is very important. I have realised when I don’t really play to win or lose, it helps a lot. I perform the best when I am more free and relaxed.”
Her financial worries still clouds mind but she has learnt to deal with it better. “When I am on court I try to forget and then after I come off it, I am like, ‘ok I have to think about it again.”
Li has the support of the family, but only just. “Sometime they don’t really understand, but they kind of let me do my own things and I think that is their way of supporting me.
