Team Canada has won four badminton gold medals at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.On Friday, Jason Ho-Shue of Markham, Ontario and Nyl Yakura of Scarborough, Ontario won gold in men’s doubles. Rachel Honderich of Toronto, Ontario and Kristen Tsai of Vancouver, British Columbia won gold in women’s doubles. Michelle Li of Markham, Ontario won gold in women’s singles and Joshua Hurlburt-Yu of Toronto, Ontario and Josephine Wu of Edmonton, Alberta won gold in mixed doubles.
In men’s doubles, Ho-Shue and Yakura won three matches en route to winning gold. Seeded first, they got a first round bye and beat Mario Cuba Rodriguez and Diego Mini Cuadros of Peru 21-13, 21-10 in the quarterfinals, Osleni Guerrero Velazco and Leodannis Martinez Palacio of Cuba 23-21, 21-15 in the semifinals and Philip Hung Chew and Ryan Chew of the United States 21-11, 19-21, 21-18 in the gold medal game.
In women’s doubles, Honderich and Tsai were also seeded first and only needed to win three matches to win gold. They beat Ines Lucia Castillo Salazar and Paula la Torre Regal of Peru 21-3, 21-3 in the quarterfinals. Tamires Santos and Fabiana da Silva of Brazil 21-5, 21-8 in the semifinals and Kuei Ya-Chen and Jamie Hsu of the United States 21-10, 21-9 in the gold medal game.
In women’s singles, Li was seeded first and got a first round bye. She beat Bermary Altagracia Polanco Munoz 21-17, 21-12 in the second round, Laura Villalobos of Costa Rica 21-7, 21-13 in the third round. Haramara Gaitan Fausto of Mexico 21-9, 26-24 in the quarterfinals, Iris Wang of the United States 21-10, 21-5 in the semifinals and Honderich 21-11, 21-19 in an all-Canadian gold medal game.
In mixed doubles, Hurlburt-Yu and Wu were seeded first and got a first round bye. They beat Andy Jesus Baque and Maria Delia Zambrano of Ecuador 21-9, 21-8 in the second round, Lino Munoz and Haramara Gaitan of Mexico 21-16, 21-19 in the quarterfinals, Fabricio Farias and Jaqueline Lima of Brazil 20-22, 21-17, 21-13 in the semifinals and Yakura and Tsai 18-21, 21-12, 21-15 in the final.
Canada now has 64 medals (16 gold, 29 silver and 19 bronze). They are second behind the United States, which have won 101 medals.
