Top 5 Players playing in the PanAm Badminton Championships 2022
The best shuttlers from the North, Central, South and the Caribbeans are in El Salvador for the 2022 PanAmerican Badminton Championships, which will take place from April 28 to May 1.
With the field not as stacked as Europe and Asia, these players made a name for the entire Americas, and they are the ones to look out for.
Here are the top 5 players to look out for in the PanAm Badminton Championships 2022.
- Brian Yang
Canada’s number one will enter San Salvador as the defending titleholder and the top-seed in the men’s singles event, having won it last year in Guatemala at the age of 19.
Ranked 33rd by the BWF, the Toronto native has a future ahead in the senior circuit, in which he has won eight tournaments in his career.
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- Kevin Cordon
Not far behind Yang is the 40th-ranked Guatemalan ace, who is seeded second in this competition. Having won this event twice before (2009 and 2012), he is looking to tie Cuba’s Osleni Guerrero with a third title.
The lefty was badminton’s almost-Cinderella tale at the Olympics, where he made a surprise run to the medal rounds, only finishing fourth after losing to eventual champion Axelsen in the semis and was beaten to bronze by Ginting.
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- Beiwen Zhang
Despite being seeded second in the women’s singles, the Vegas resident is the defending champion in the tournament and she looks to add to her 2021 triumph.
Zhang is a veteran of the United States set-up and had won fourteen titles on the tour flying the Stars and Stripes.
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- Michelle Li
The Canadian has the better of USA’s Zhang in two things: having won more PanAm titles (four) than her and being the top seed in the Women’s singles.
Ranked 12th in the world by BWF, the Markham native had a massive trophy cabinet, which was highlighted by her 2014 Commonwealth Games gold and she is the three-time defending PanAm Games champion.
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- Jason Ho-Shue
Having won four straight PanAms in doubles with Nyl Yakura, the other pride of Markham is back at the singles play, in which he was seeded third in the men’s competition.
The doubles specialist might have a tough time adjusting back to the solo game, but he knows how to win here, with the 2016 edition being a highlight. There in Campinas, Ho-Shue won both the men’s singles and doubles competition (alongside Yakura).
