Gu Juan (Chinese: 顾娟; born 26 May 1990) is a Chinese-born Singaporean badminton player who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[1]

Gu Juan
顾娟
Personal information
CountrySingapore
Born (1990-05-26) 26 May 1990 (age 34)
Dafeng, Jiangsu, China
Height1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight56 kg (123 lb)
CoachLuan Jin
Women's Singles
Highest ranking15 (20 December 2012)
Medal record
Women's badminton
Representing  Singapore
Southeast Asian Games
Silver medal – second place 2007 Nakhon Ratchasima Women's team
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Jakarta–Palembang Women's team
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Waitakere City Girls singles
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Waitakere City Mixed team
Asian Junior Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Kuala Lumpur Girls' singles
BWF profile

Early life

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Gu followed her father to Nanjing when she was six years old. Due to poor body constitution, her father sent her to a badminton school to build her up. Gu represented Nanjing and won a competition. She was subsequently invited to join the Beijing badminton team but withdrew after not being used to the weather conditions. Gu then further represented Nanjing in the Jiangsu sports competition and won the girls doubles and mixed doubles. Former Jiangsu badminton coach, representing the Singapore Badminton Association, scouted her and invited her to Singapore.[2]

Career

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Gu came to Singapore in 2003 under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme and became a Singapore citizen in June 2007.

Gu was part of the Singapore women's team who won the silver medal at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games held in Thailand. In 2012, Gu was selected as Singapore's only Olympic women's singles player for the 2012 Summer Olympics by the Singapore Badminton Association, ahead of Southeast Asian Games women's singles champion Fu Mingtian.[3] At the 2012 Olympics, she qualified from her group before losing to Cheng Shao-chieh.[1]

Gu resigned from the Singapore national team on 30 April 2014, citing injuries, tending to her aged parents and lack of progress in Singapore.[4] Gu went to Shanghai for further studies.[5] Sixteen months later after her resignation, she was persuaded by the Singapore national badminton team's head coach to re-join the national team.[5]

Awards

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Gu received the 2013 Meritorious Award from the Singapore National Olympic Committee.[6]

Achievements

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BWF World Junior Championships

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Girls' singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2007 The Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City, New Zealand   Wang Lin 14–21, 14–21   Bronze

Asian Junior Championships

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Girls' singles

Year Venue Opponent Score Result
2007 Stadium Juara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia   Liu Xin 7–21, 21–15, 16–21   Silver

BWF Grand Prix

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

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2013 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold   P. V. Sindhu 17–21, 21–17, 19–21   Runner-up
2013 Dutch Open   Busanan Ongbamrungphan 12–21, 12–21   Runner-up
  BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament
  BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series

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Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
2007 Waikato International   Fu Mingtian 14–21, 17–21   Runner-up
2010 Banuinvest International   Hitomi Oka 23–25, 21–15, 4–21   Runner-up
2010 Vietnam International   Lee Hyun-jin 19–21, 15–21   Runner-up
2011 New Zealand International   Sayaka Sato 14–21, 13–21   Runner-up
2011 Singapore International   Xing Aiying 10–21, 12–21   Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
2007 Croatian International   Zhang Beiwen   Cai Jiani
  Guo Xin
21–15, 6–21, 10–21   Runner-up
  BWF International Challenge tournament
  BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents

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Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Gu Juan". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  2. ^ "明星信息". 2012.sina.com.cn (in Chinese). Sina Corp. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  3. ^ "羽球/羽球女單傳捷報 鄭韶婕拍落顧娟晉級前8強" (in Chinese). NOWnews. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Top-ranked S'pore shuttler Gu Juan quits". TODAY. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Out to make the most of her Olympic stop". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Singapore Sports Awards". Singapore National Olympic Council. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Juan Gu Head to Head". Badminton World Federation. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
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