Rachel Chan swings for the birdie while wearing a green Team Canada jerseyAndrew Lahodynskyj/COC
Andrew Lahodynskyj/COC

Rachel Chan

Biography

  • Won gold in women’s singles and mixed doubles (with Brian Yang) at Cali 2021, the inaugural Junior Pan American Games, qualifying her directly for the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games 
  • In 2020 became the youngest female badminton player to win a singles title at the Canadian Championships  
  • Won back-to-back singles medals at the senior Pan American Championships in 2021 and 2022, taking silver followed by bronze 
  • Won two medals at the U19 Pan American Championships in 2019, taking gold in women’s doubles and silver in mixed doubles; was also a quarterfinalist in singles 
  • Represented Canada at the 2019 BWF World Junior Championships

A Little More About Rachel

Getting into the Sport: Started playing badminton at a local community centre at age 6 and joined a team to begin competing at 10… Lost every game in her first year competing but never gave up believing she could make it… Watching Olympian Michelle Li train gave her hope she could one day have the same success… Outside Interests: Would like to become a coach when she’s done competing… Odds and Ends: Has always been the shortest on the team and it has become a running joke to see how she measures up each time she steps on the podium… Favourite motto: “It’s only impossible until it’s done”…

Notable International Results

BWF World Junior Championships: 2019 - R32 (singles) BPA Pan American Championships: 2022 - BRONZE (singles); 2021 - SILVER (singles) BPA Pan American Junior Championships: 2019 - QF (singles), GOLD (doubles), SILVER (mixed)