Yao Jie

Yao Jie
姚洁
Yao Jie; 姚洁
Personal information
Country	Netherlands
Born	10 April 1977 (age 47)
Handedness	Right
Women's singles
Current ranking	32 (2 May 2013)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing Netherlands
World Cup
Uber Cup
European Championships
European Mixed Team Championships
European Women's Team Championships
Representing China
East Asian Games
World Junior Championships
	BWF profile

Yao Jie (

Chinese-born badminton player who now resides in the Netherlands

.

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

Bitburger Open

Grand Prix Gold.

Her performances at

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

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

World Cup

Women's singles

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

European Championships

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	Den Bosch , Netherlands	Xu Huaiwen	Walkover	Bronze
2012	Telenor Arena, Karlskrona , Sweden	Juliane Schenk	13–21, 10–21	Bronze

World Junior Championships

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	Qiang Hong	8–15, 6–15	Silver

BWF Grand Prix

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

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

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