The chants that first rose up in London for a pair of unlikely Canadian medal contenders, echoed on St. Clair Ave. in 海角社区官网early Saturday morning.
鈥淏ruce! Li! Bruce! Li! Bruce! Li!鈥
Unfortunately, the boisterous crowd support 鈥 both at home and inside Wembley Arena 鈥 for Canada鈥檚 women鈥檚 badminton pair, Alex Bruce and Michele Li, was not enough to lift them past the more skilled and experienced Russian duo of Valeria Sorokina and Nina Vislova, who took the bronze medal match in straight sets, .
The source of the comical 鈥淏ruce! Li!鈥 chants was apparently Bruce鈥檚 older brother, Max, who was in London with Bruce鈥檚 and Li鈥檚 families, along with their coach, Jennifer Lee.
But at Deer Park鈥檚 Badminton and Racquet Club, where Bruce first started playing the sport at age nine, more than 30 people gathered before dawn on a long-weekend Saturday to watch the bronze-medal game on a big screen.
鈥淲e鈥檝e all spent so much of our lives here, we thought it was the best place to watch her,鈥 said Peter Butler, 22, who won a national junior title as Bruce鈥檚 mixed double鈥檚 partner.
Ranked 27th in the world heading into the Olympics and thought to be eliminated after losing their first three games, Bruce and Li were given new life when four top-ranked teams were kicked out of the tournament for trying to in order to draw a weaker quarter-final opponent.
That second chance gave the . After failing to score more than 12 points in any set in their first three matches, they defeated Australia in the quarter-finals and took a tough Japanese team to the wire in the semis, becoming crowd favourites and Olympic darlings along the way.
鈥淪omething that started as such a negative, embarrassing thing for our sport, has turned into something extremely positive for badminton in Canada,鈥 said St茅phane Cadieux, Canada鈥檚 junior badminton coach who trained Bruce for more than a decade. 鈥淭hey go from losing all their matches and the next thing you know, they鈥檙e competing for a medal.鈥
It was the first Olympics for Bruce, 22, and Li, 20, and it would have been a rather unremarkable debut if it had not been re-energized by the match-fixing scandal dubbed 鈥淪huttlegate.鈥
Despite missing out on the bronze, Butler said the chance to play against the world鈥檚 best gives Bruce an unparalleled learning experience. 鈥淪he鈥檚 become more aggressive, more intimidating, more confident.鈥
The young women have also gone from anonymous competitors to Canadian Olympic celebrities, emerging as plucky crowd favourites even without reaching the podium.
A Badminton Canada coach wearing a jersey with Bruce鈥檚 name on the back was stopped three times while shopping at a local Walmart earlier this week. 鈥溾業s that Bruce, like Alex Bruce the badminton player?鈥欌 Cadieux said, re-enacting the experience of a fellow coach. 鈥淔or people to actually recognize Alex Bruce鈥檚 name, that鈥檚 incredible.鈥
Cadieux hopes the unexpected exposure will also boost badminton鈥檚 street cred.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not always taken seriously,鈥 he said. 鈥溾極h yeah, badminton, that鈥檚 something you do at the cottage.鈥欌 Here he motions to the TV, where a Danish men鈥檚 doubles team has just surprised the Koreans with a gutsy, shuttlecock-pummelling performance. 鈥淐ottage, my a—.鈥
Members of Li鈥檚 longtime Markham club 鈥 Lee鈥檚 Badminton Training Centre on Centurion Dr. 鈥 gathered together at the club to watch Thursday鈥檚 semifinal match, but decided to take in Saturday鈥檚 early-morning affair in the privacy of their own homes. 鈥淲hether they win a medal or not, we鈥檙e all very proud of Michele,鈥 Daniel Lam, the club鈥檚 manager, said Friday.
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