From leaving China to being bullied in Singapore to finally finding ground in the US: Meet Beiwen Zhang who qualified to round of 16 at Paris Olympics

Team USA’s Beiwen Zhang has qualified for the knockout stages of the badminton women's singles competition, and this victory has been a long time in the making. For the 34-year-old, this marks her second consecutive appearance in the round of 16 at the Games, making her the only American singles player to achieve this feat.

Zhang's journey with badminton began 16 years ago when she was introduced to the sport as an eight-year-old in her home country of China. Five years after this, the shuttler traveled to Singapore alone in a bid to compete at the highest level in the world, only to be faced with bullying and intense pressure from coaches.

Despite uprooting her entire life to move to Singapore, the shuttler ended up retiring from the country's national team in 2010, and for a while, it looked like her dreams of making it big as a badminton player had drawn to a close.

However, opportunity came knocking at her door once again when she shifted to the United States in 2013. With that move to Las Vegas, Beiwen Zhang soared to new heights in her career, claiming wins against heavyweights like two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, former World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying, and World Champions Akane Yamaguchi and Ratchanok Intanon.

The shuttler qualified to represent USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and made it through to the round of 16, only to rupture her Achilles in her match against China’s He Bingjiao. Now, four years later, Zhang is back on the world's biggest sporting stage and is gunning to exercise her Tokyo demons and make her way to the podium.

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Beiwen Zhang at the Paris Olympics

Beiwen Zhang, currently ranked eleventh in the world, began her journey at the Paris Olympics on July 27, facing off against Australia’s Tiffany Ho. Playing some of the best badminton of her life, the American needed only two games and thirty minutes to dispose of Ho, with the scoreline reading 21-9, 21-4.

Next, the 34-year-old got back on the courts of La Chapelle Arena on Wednesday, July 31, playing Vietnam's Thuy Lin Nguyen in a bid to make her second straight appearance in the round of 16 at the Games. In a nail-biting encounter, Zhang was able to pull through 22-20, 22-20 to keep alive her unbeaten streak in Paris.

Beiwen Zhang is the only American shuttler to have claimed a win at the 2024 Olympics, and will likely run into 2016 Rio Olympics champion Carolina Marin for her round of 16 match.