Li Shifeng

Li Shifeng (; born 9 January 2000) is a Chinese badminton player. He is a gold medallist in the men's singles at the 2022 Asian Games. He was part of the winning Chinese team at the 2021, 2023, and 2025 Sudirman Cup; 2022 Asian Games, and also at the 2024 and 2026 Thomas Cup. Li reached a career high as world number 3 in the BWF World rankings on 31 October 2023. Li is the 2018 Olympic Youth boys' singles gold medallist competing at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He was part of the Chinese junior team that won the gold medals at the 2017, 2018 World Junior Championships, and 2018 Asian Junior Championships.

Early life Li began playing badminton at the age of 6 with support from his father. Li then practiced in the Jiangxi team when he was in the elementary school. When Li was 12, he visited Fuzhou's Bayi team, eventually joining and training with them. He subsequently finished as a runner up at a national competition. At the age of 14, he participated in the National youth team training centre in Shenyang and entered the National second team in 2017.

From a young age, he was noted to display exceptional skill and determination on court, quickly rising through the ranks in China's competitive youth badminton scene, emerging as one of China's brightest badminton talents at the time. Whilst growing up and training, he stated that both Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei were his idols whilst expressing deep admiration for Japan's Kento Momota. Li said that he had a desire to incorporate their playing styles into his gameplay.

Career

2024 Li started off the 2024 season poorly, he participated in the 2024 Malaysia Open, beating Lee Chia-hao and Weng Hongyang in three games. However, he lost in the quarter-finals to Lin Chun-yi. He subsequently suffered multiple first and second round exits to Koki Watanabe at the India Open, Brian Yang at the Indonesia Masters, Lakshya Sen at the French Open and Toma Junior Popov at the All England Open.

Li found more success during the Asian Championships, reaching the final, but losing to Indonesia's Jonatan Christie in straight games, marking Li's first medal in this competition. He would go on to participate in the 2024 edition of the Thomas Cup, as China's second men's singles choice. He found some more success during the Thomas Cup, however, he lost to Lakshya Sen during the quarter-finals and Jonatan Christie during the finals. China would still eventually win the Thomas cup that year, marking Li's first Thomas Cup gold medal.

Li participated in the Malaysia Masters, avenging his defeat by Toma Junior Popov but ultimately losing in the quarter-finals to Ng Ka Long. At the Singapore Open, he reached his first final of 2024 beating Lei Lanxi, Lee Cheuk Yiu and Loh Kean Yew along with a semi-finals walkover from Viktor Axelsen. He lost the final to his compatriot Shi Yuqi. He would lose again to Shi Yuqi in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open, who eventually won the tournament.

At the 2024 Olympic Games, Li was eliminated by Loh Kean Yew in the knockout stages. What followed this was a string of first, second and quarter-final round exits, losing at the Korea Open to Lee Chia-hao, China Open to Chou Tien-chen, Arctic Open to Lee Cheuk Yiu, Denmark Open to Anders Antonsen. His title drought of 2024 came to an end, winning the Japan Masters, comfortably beating 1st seed and reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the semi-finals and Lee Chia-hao in the finals. He lost to Lin Chun-yi at the China Masters in the first round.

Li qualified for the 2024 World Tour Finals, where he would lose to Anders Antonsen in his first group stage match, but go on to beat Chou Tien-chen in three games and Lee Zii Jia by retirement. Ultimately this was not enough to advance into the knockout stages, thus ending the 2024 season for Li.

2025–2026 Li started off the 2025 season at the Malaysia Open. He reached the semi-finals before subsequently being beaten by the eventual champion Shi Yuqi in three games. Li then suffered a first round defeat to Malaysia's Leong Jun Hao marking his first ever loss to Leong. Li subsequently suffered a quarter-finals exit to Taiwan's Wang Tzu-wei at the Indonesia Masters.

After taking a 2-month break, he entered the 2025 edition of the All England Open. Competing as the 2023 former champion he reached the semi finals, having beaten his youth rival Lakshya Sen in two games, however he lost to his compatriot Shi Yuqi once again in three games. Li lost in the semi-finals at the Swiss Open to Christo Popov in two straight games. he then won a bronze medal at the Asian Championships, losing in the semi-finals to Lu Guangzu, marking his second medal at the Asia Championships.

Li won the Malaysia Masters, defeating all of his opponents in two games, and dominating India's Srikanth Kidambi with scores of 21-11 and 21–9, marking his first title of the season, and subsequently becoming the first Chinese men's singles player to win a title in the Malaysia Masters since its inception in 2009.

Li claimed his second title of the year at the 2025 Hong Kong Open, comfortably defeating Lakshya Sen in two straight games of 21-15 and 21-12.

In 2026, Li helps the Chinese team to win the 2026 Thomas Cup. He then won his first title of the year by retain the Malaysia Masters title.

Achievements Asian Games Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2022 Binjiang Gymnasium, Hangzhou, China Shi Yuqi 23–21, 21–13 Gold Gold

World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result Ref 2018 Markham Pan Am Centre, Markham, Canada Kodai Naraoka 11–21, 21–19, 17–21 Bronze Bronze

World Tour (7 titles, 5 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 Canada Open Super 100 Parupalli Kashyap 20–22, 21–14, 21–17 Winner 2022 Thailand Open Super 500 Lee Zii Jia 21–17, 11–21, 21–23 Runner-up 2023 German Open Super 300 Ng Ka Long 22–20, 18–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2023 All England Open Super 1000 Shi Yuqi 26–24, 21–5 Winner 2023 Canada Open Super 500 Lakshya Sen 18–21, 20–22 Runner-up 2023 U.S. Open Super 300 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21–15, 21–18 Winner 2023 French Open Super 750 Jonatan Christie 21–16, 15–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2024 Singapore Open Super 750 Shi Yuqi 21–17, 19–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2024 Japan Masters Super 500 Leong Jun Hao 21–10, 21–13 Winner 2025 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Srikanth Kidambi 21–11, 21–9 Winner 2025 Hong Kong Open Super 500 Lakshya Sen 21–15, 21–12 Winner 2026 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul 21–16, 21–17 Winner

International Challenge / Series (2 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result Ref 2019 Austrian Open Mark Caljouw 21–8, 21–23, 9–21 Runner-up 2019 Iran Fajr International Kunlavut Vitidsarn 18–21, 17–21 Runner-up BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament

Junior International (3 runners-up) Boys' singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2017 Korea Junior International Bai Yupeng 16–21, 13–21 Runner-up 2018 Dutch Junior International Kunlavut Vitidsarn 18–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2018 German Junior International Kunlavut Vitidsarn 15–21, 11–21 Runner-up BWF Junior International Grand Prix tournament BWF Junior International Challenge tournament BWF Junior International Series tournament BWF Junior Future Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 3 March 2026.

Player Matches Win Lost Diff Victor Lai 1 1 0 +1 Shi Yuqi 8 2 6 –4 Chou Tien-Chen 5 2 3 –1 Viktor Axelsen 1 1 0 +1 Anders Antonsen 6 2 4 –2 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 2 2 0 +2 Christo Popov 4 3 1 +2 Srikanth Kidambi 5 4 1 +3 B. Sai Praneeth 3 3 0 +3 Prannoy H. S. 5 2 3 –1 Lakshya Sen 16 8 8 0

Player Matches Win Lost Diff Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 7 3 4 –1 Tommy Sugiarto 1 1 0 +1 Kento Momota 1 1 0 +1 Kodai Naraoka 10 6 4 +2 Lee Zii Jia 6 4 2 +2 Liew Daren 1 1 0 +1 Loh Kean Yew 7 2 5 –3 Son Wan-ho 1 1 0 +1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 11 6 5 +1 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 7 6 1 +5