Wei Yili (; born 24 June 1982) is a former

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player from China.

Career

A women's doubles specialist, since 2001 Wei has competed on the world circuit in partnership with a variety of her fellow countrywomen, but most often with Zhang Jiewen,

Zhao Tingting Zhao Tingting (; born 28 November 1982) is a Chinese badminton player from Nantong, Jiangsu. Career A doubles specialist, Zhao has often been a "utility player" on China's national team, winning international tournaments with a variety of compa ...

Zhang Yawen Zhang Yawen (; born 9 March 1985) is a badminton player from China. Career Zhang has specialized in women's doubles and mixed doubles, earning numerous international titles in both events. At various times she has partnered either Zhang Dan, ...

. A member of China's perennial world champion Uber Cup teams, in the biggest events for individual players (such as the

BWF World Championships The BWF World Championships, formerly known as IBF World Championships, and also known as the World Badminton Championships, is a badminton tournament sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The tournament is one of the most prestigious i ...

, the All-England Championships, and the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

) Wei and her partners have usually been overshadowed by China's two dominant women's doubles pairs,

Gao Ling Gao Ling (; born 14 March 1979) is a Chinese former badminton player. Career Noted for her consistency, anticipation, forecourt prowess, and sporting smile, Gao is one of the most successful doubles players in the history of women's badminton. ...

and

Huang Sui Huang Sui (; born 8 January 1982) is a Chinese-Australian female badminton player. Career Although Huang has won the Chinese National mixed doubles title almost all of her many international titles have come in women's doubles with Gao Ling, in ...

, and Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen. One exception came at the 2007 All-Englands where Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen defeated both of these teams to capture the highly coveted title. Her other women's doubles titles include the

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(2001),

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

(2001, 2007),

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

(2002, 2004),

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

(2003),

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

(2006), and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

(2007) Opens. Wei has medaled four times at the

without "striking gold". She earned a silver with Zhang Jiewen in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, a silver with Zhao Tingting in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, a silver with Zhang Yawen in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, and a bronze with Zhang Yawen in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. She finished fourth at the 2004 Olympics in Athens with Zhao Tingting. At the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Wei and Zhang Yawen were beaten in the semifinals by yet another Chinese pair,

Du Jing Du Jing (; born 23 June 1984) is a former Chinese badminton player from Anshan, Liaoning. Career A doubles specialist, Du and her regular partner Yu Yang have steadily emerged as one of the world's elite women's doubles teams since 2004. They ...

and Yu Yang, who went on to win the gold medal. Wei and Zhang earned a bronze medal by defeating Japan's

Miyuki Maeda is a Japanese international badminton player from the Renesas badminton club and later affiliated with Saishunkan team. She participated at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, and also in three Asian Games editions from 2006 to 2014. Career Maed ...

and

Satoko Suetsuna is a badminton player from Japan. Born in Ōita, Ōita Prefecture, she joined Renesas badminton club and later affiliated with Saishunkan team. She was a bronze medalist at the 2011 BWF World Championships with her partner Miyuki Maeda. Career ...

in the playoff for third place. In 2008, Wei retired from the national team. She received an award during a ceremony to mark her retirement with five other teammates from the Chinese national badminton team on the sidelines of the China Open badminton event in Shanghai, November 23, 2008. However, she was still playing a year later by partnering with

. They lost to Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen in the Thailand Open final of 2009, but won the Philippines Open of 2009.

Achievements

Olympic Games

''Women's doubles''

BWF World Championships

''Women's doubles''

World Cup

''Women's doubles''

Asian Championships

''Women's doubles''

World Junior Championships

''Girls' doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

Asian Junior Championships

''Girls' doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

BWF Superseries

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the

Badminton World Federation The Badminton World Federation (BWF) is the international governing body for the sport of badminton recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was founded in 1934 as the International Badminton Federation (IBF) with nine membe ...

(BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year. ''Women's doubles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, ...

tournament

BWF Grand Prix

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the

BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the

(BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation from 1983 to 2006. ''Women's doubles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF & IBF Grand Prix tournament

IBF International

''Women's doubles''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wei, Yili 1982 births Living people People from Yichang Badminton players from Hubei Chinese female badminton players Badminton players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of China Olympic bronze medalists for China Olympic medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for China Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games