Calgary badminton player is on a journey to make the 2024 Paris Olympics

Badminton players from across the globe will gather in Calgary for the YONEX Canada Open, North America’s most prestigious badminton tournament.

Held in the WinSport Event Centre from July 4 to 9, it is expected that Calgary will welcome 3,000 spectators from around the world.

Competing in the tournament is Calgary’s own Kevin Lee, who has played badminton since childhood.

“My parents and my brother, when I was around four or five, would book some courts at the University of Calgary and we would just go to the open gym and play around. It was just a family activity,” he says.

However, after watching his brother compete in tournaments, Lee followed in his footsteps to pursue the game competitively.

“I’ve always played it very competitively since I was a kid. I would compete in many national tournaments,” Lee says. “As soon as I was done university I made the decision to pursue the sport professionally.”

Olympic journey

Now at the age of 24, Lee is chasing the Olympic dream.

Playing in men’s doubles alongside Edmonton’s Ty Lindeman, Lee hopes to qualify for the Olympics.

The qualification process for the Paris 2024 Olympics began on May 1 and will end on April 28, 2024. After the qualification timeline closes, the Canadian team with the highest world ranking will qualify for the Olympics.

“Your world ranking is based on your top 10 tournaments. So, your top 10 best results,” Lee says.

“We're just trying to get as many good results as we can. So, in general, in the coming year, we'll probably play about 20 tournaments and hopefully 10 of those are very good results.”

Lee says that so far he and Lindeman are off to a good start as they are currently ranked 41st in the world.

The struggle for success

The main challenge Lee has faced in his Olympic journey is the expense of travel.

“The sport doesn't offer a whole lot of funding, unlike many of the popular sports in Canada,” Lee says. “Most of our travels are self-funded. So, we are balancing part-time work as well as our training just to be able to pay for our travels and tournaments.”

Since Lee is attempting to make as many tournaments as possible to garner the highest ranking he can, the travel expenses continue piling up.

Between the cost of flights, accommodations, registration fees, and additional expenses, Lee estimates that each tournament averages around $2,500.

However, through the support of family, friends, and other badminton enthusiasts, Lee is fundraising through GoFundMe to gather some additional support for his Olympic journey.

Competing in Calgary

After competing in Asia for over a month, Lee is back in Calgary and ready to feel the support of his hometown.

“It's just nice to be at home. I have the support of a lot of friends and family and people that have watched me play from when I was a kid till now. I'm glad that I can showcase and compete and perform in front of all these people that have supported me for so long.”

Lee looks forward to competing against some of the world’s top talent, and he’s excited to have the home crowd advantage.

“This is one of the highest-level tournaments in the world, so I’ve got some very strong opponents.”

Lee says many teams will be coming out of Asia where the players are much stronger due to the popularity of the sport. However, Lee plans to try his hardest at the tournament and end with a good result.

What to expect

All are welcome to attend the tournament and see some of the world’s top badminton players.

While many people are familiar with badminton, Lee says they may not expect the intensity of the game at this level.

“It's a lot more fast-paced and intense than people expect and I think it's a bit of an eye-opener,” he says.

“It'd be really interesting if people that have not really seen the sport professionally could come watch. It'd be really cool for them to experience how it is such a high-level competitive and physical sport.”

Lee is competing in both men’s doubles with Lindeman and mixed doubles with Eliana Zhang at the tournament, which is single-elimination.

This will be the ninth year in a row that the event will be held in Calgary at WinSport, however, the tournament has been held almost every year since 1962.

This year will also mark a new milestone for the tournament as it has been promoted from the Super 100 level to the Super 500 level by the Badminton World Federation. The promotion means that the tournament can offer a total prize purse of USD $420,000 to the winners.

Lee hopes Calgarians will get out to experience the sport. Additionally, the first day of the tournament, July 4, is free to attend and see some action.

“It's not the backyard sport that most people envision badminton to be. At a competitive level it becomes like any other high-level sport like tennis or hockey.”