Yao Jie (simplified Chinese: 姚洁; traditional Chinese: 姚潔; pinyin: Yáo Jié; born 10 April 1977[2]) is a Chinese-born badminton player who now resides in the Netherlands.

Yao Jie
姚洁
Personal information
CountryNetherlands
Born (1977-04-10) 10 April 1977 (age 47)
HandednessRight
Women's singles
Current ranking32 (2 May 2013[1])
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Netherlands
World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Yiyang Women's singles
Uber Cup
Silver medal – second place 2006 Tokyo Women's team
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Malmö Women's singles
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Geneva Women's singles
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Den Bosch Women's singles
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Karlskrona Women's singles
European Mixed Team Championships
Silver medal – second place 2004 Geneva Mixed team
Silver medal – second place 2006 Den Bosch Mixed team
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Malmö Mixed team
European Women's Team Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Thessalonica Women's team
Silver medal – second place 2008 Almere Women's team
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Amsterdam Women's team
Representing  China
East Asian Games
Gold medal – first place 1997 Busan Women's team
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 1994 Kuala Lumpur Girls' doubles
Silver medal – second place 1994 Kuala Lumpur Mixed doubles
BWF profile

Yao is one of a number of badminton players who have emigrated from China, in part, because the depth of badminton talent in that country has made it difficult for them to be selected for major international competitions. Prior to her move to the Netherlands, she won the BWF World Junior Championships in girls' doubles with Liu Lu in 1994 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and helped the Chinese national women's team clinch a gold medal at the 1997 East Asian Games.[3] But her passion was for the ladies singles event.

Since moving to the Netherlands Yao Jie has won the women's singles event 4 times at the Dutch Open (2003, 2008, 2009 & 2011), she won the Thailand Open twice (2004, 2005), and the biennial European Championships once (2002), and a high number of 11 Dutch National Championships. Nine times the Dutch crown in singles and twice in doubles. She was also a 3-times European bronze medalist in the 2004, 2006 European Badminton Championships and 2012 European Badminton Championships. She won the Velo Dutch International twice, in 2001 beating Mia Audina 9–11, 11–1, 13–10 and in 2012 beating Malaysian Sonia Su Ya Cheah 19–21, 21–9, 21–12 in the final. She also won the Italian International in 2011 beating Bulgarian Petya Nedelcheva in the final 21–11, 21–17 and won the Finnish International Open in 2012 beating Canadian Michelle Li 22–20, 21–19. Yao Jie was a runner-up to Zhang Ning at the China Open in 2006, runner-up to Juliane Schenk of Germany at the 2010 Dutch Open, runner-up to Li Xuerui of China at the 2011 Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold and runner-up to Juliane Schenk at the 2012 Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold.

Her performances at 2004 Olympic Games and at recent BWF World Championships have not been among her strongest. She was eliminated in the round of 16 at the Athens Games by Hong Kong's Wang Chen and has proceeded no farther than that round in any of her World Championship appearances. A big disappointment was her non-participation at the 2008 Olympic Games in her native China, despite being qualified by the international norm, but not by the stricter Dutch qualifying norm. In January 2009 Yao Jie married Dutch player Eric Pang.

In March 2011 Yao Jie was part of the Dutch Fource team, together with Dutch top players Dicky Palyama, Judith Meulendijks and Eric Pang. This team was formed as a result of a conflict with the Nederlandse Badminton Bond sponsored by Yonex, and these four players were non Yonex sponsored players, Yao Jie playing for sponsor Carlton. The conflict heightened in 2011 when these four non Yonex sponsored players were not included in the National squad to play the European Team Championships in Amsterdam. Despite all these juridical sponsor wranglings, Yao Jie managed to qualify for the London Olympics. At the 2012 Olympic Games in the Women's Singles Yao Jie won Group F by beating Akvilė Stapušaitytė of Lithuania 21–16, 21–7 and Ragna Ingólfsdóttir of Iceland 21–12, 25–23. After the group stage, in the knock-out stage round of 16 Yao Jie lost to Saina Nehwal of India 14–21, 16–21. Saina later progressed to win India's first Olympic badminton medal, a bronze.

Nowadays Yao Jie has her own Badminton Academy at her hometown Wuhan in China and is ambassador for Dutch Badminton in sports and cultural exchanges between the Netherlands and China.

Achievements

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World Cup

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Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2005 Olympic Park, Yiyang, China   Zhang Ning Walkover   Bronze

European Championships

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Women's singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2002 Baltiska hallen, Malmö, Sweden   Mia Audina 8–6, 7–3, 7–1   Gold
2004 Queue d’Arve Sport Center, Geneva, Switzerland   Pi Hongyan 4–11, 6–11   Bronze
2006 Maaspoort Sports and Events, Den Bosch, Netherlands   Xu Huaiwen Walkover   Bronze
2012 Telenor Arena, Karlskrona, Sweden   Juliane Schenk 13–21, 10–21   Bronze

World Junior Championships

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Girls' doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1994 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia   Liu Lu   Qiang Hong
  Wang Li
17–16, 7–15, 15–7   Gold

Mixed doubles

Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result
1994 Kuala Lumpur Badminton Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia   Yang Bing   Zhang Wei
  Qiang Hong
8–15, 6–15   Silver

BWF Grand Prix

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The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix was sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006.

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
1995 Brunei Open   Zeng Yaqiong 11–5, 12–10   Winner
1996 German Open   Margit Borg 11–1, 11–0   Winner
1998 Dutch Open   Zhou Mi 13–10, 11–13, 4–11   Runner-up
2001 Dutch Open   Mia Audina 5–7, 7–1, 5–7, 5–7   Runner-up
2002 German Open   Pi Hongyan 11–4, 9–11, 7–11   Runner-up
2003 Dutch Open   Dai Yun 13–10, 3–0 Retired   Winner
2004 Thailand Open   Jun Jae-youn 11–8, 2–11, 11–6   Winner
2004 Dutch Open   Pi Hongyan 5–11, 4–11   Runner-up
2004 Denmark Open   Xie Xingfang 9–11, 11–8, 7–11   Runner-up
2005 Thailand Open   Xu Huaiwen 11–6, 11–7   Winner
2005 Dutch Open   Xu Huaiwen 7–11, 2–11   Runner-up
2006 China Open   Zhang Ning 14–21, 5–21   Runner-up
2008 Dutch Open   Linda Zetchiri 21–14, 21–13   Winner
2009 Dutch Open   Judith Meulendijks 21–11, 21–12   Winner
2010 Dutch Open   Juliane Schenk 13–21, 21–14, 15–21   Runner-up
2011 Dutch Open   P. V. Sindhu 21–16, 21–17   Winner
2011 Bitburger Open   Li Xuerui 8–21, 9–21   Runner-up
2012 Bitburger Open   Juliane Schenk 10–21, 21–15, 23–25   Runner-up
  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
  IBF/BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

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Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2001 Dutch International   Mia Audina 9–11, 11–1, 13–10   Winner
2009 Belgian International   Misaki Matsutomo 21–14, 14–21, 21–16   Winner
2011 Italian International   Petya Nedelcheva 21–11, 21–17   Winner
2012 Finnish Open   Michelle Li 22–20, 21–19   Winner
2012 Dutch International   Soniia Cheah 19–21, 21–9, 21–12   Winner
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  IBF International tournament

Record Against Selected Opponents

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Includes results from all competitions against Super Series finalists, World Championship semifinalists, Olympic quarterfinalists, and all Olympic opponents.[4]

References

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  1. ^ BWF World Ranking – Women's Singles Archived 20 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ sports-reference.com
  3. ^ "East Asian Games: Chinese Women Squeeze by Korea to Take Team Gold". New Shuttlenws. 14 May 1997. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  4. ^ http://bwfcontent.tournamentsoftware.com/profile/selectheadtohead.aspx?id=15EC2421-543A-4E50-B70C-04C4955053AE [dead link]
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