Breakout star Lai gets used to life in the spotlight
It came with a bit of a stutter, but Victor Lai got his debut campaign at the India Open World Tour 750 off to a winning start with a 21-12, 16-21, 21-8 victory over France’s Christo Popov.
Talking on the dropped game, the 20-year-old said he was still getting used to the conditions at the 8000-seater Indira Gandhi stadium in New Delhi – one of the biggest arenas he’s played in.
“The (overhead) lights are pretty bright. I’m realising that these big tournaments are all like this. It’s nothing unique to this specific tournament. But I still need to get used to playing in these tournaments,” he says.
It’s only recently that Lai’s started playing under the big, bright lights. The India Open is only the second World Tour 750 tournament (the second-highest level of tournament on the international circuit) that the Canadian has ever competed in.
This is just par for the course for professional badminton players from Canada. Some of the challenges are known. Only a tiny minority of the population even knows about the game. The few players who strive to make a mark have to self-fund their competition expenses. With a limited player pool, it’s hard for them to find sparring partners. All of this has a cascading effect, which means opportunities to play the major tournaments are limited.
Lai has dealt with all of these and even throws in another challenge to add to the pile. “The hardest thing apart from the lack of money is the jet lag,” he says jokingly to Sportstar.
“No one in international badminton experiences like us Canadians. All the major tournaments happen in Asia and Europe, so every time we travel, we have to deal with jet lag. There’s nothing to do but find ways to deal with it,” says Lai, who beat France’s Toma Popov in the opening round of the India Open.
Lai isn’t just coping, though; he’s thriving. Just a year out of the junior circuit, he is making waves at the world level. 2025 was his breakout season, which featured gold at the junior and then senior Pan American Championships, semifinal finishes at the Indonesia Open and Korea Open masters, and was capped most impressively by a stunning run to a bronze medal finish on debut at the World Championships in Paris. He even had three match points in the semifinals against eventual champion Shi Yu Qi of China before eventually going down in three games.
No Canadian had ever won a medal at the World Championships previously, and the 20-year-old who has risen to 19 in the world rankings admits he was a little overwhelmed by the attention that was suddenly showered on him. “ It was a bit surreal to see the Canadian flag while standing on the podium. I was getting so many messages. There were people I hadn’t spoken to for many years who were reaching out to me,” he says.
Some things changed for the better. “We don’t get much financial support from Canada for playing badminton. Before the World Championships, it was really hard to get money to travel to competitions. After the medal, things became a little easier,” he says.
Lai said that while travelling has become easier, he still has to cope with a lean budget.
“Me and my compatriot, Brian Yang, don’t have coaches here in Delhi because it’s tough for them to travel with us. Because I’m based out of Canada, it costs thousands of dollars every time I fly to Asia,” he says.
The recognition he got from his world medal came as a double-edged sword, he admits wryly — “In terms of sponsorships, things got easier, but in terms of matches, things actually got a bit harder. At the World Championships, I was a bit of a dark horse. No one knew about me. When more people got to know my game and started analysing it, things became harder. The months after the Worlds weren’t that easy (He lost two tournaments in the first round),” he says.
Despite all this, Lai wouldn’t change a thing about his choice of career. He says he discovered his love for badminton early in life. “I started playing the sport when I was 8 or 9 years old. I think there was a family connection because my parents were immigrants from Hong Kong. I actually played three sports – golf, swimming and badminton in my childhood before I focused on badminton. I had a lot of talent, and I also enjoyed playing. So that’s why I continued,” he says.
Inspired by others
Lai says he was inspired by the Canadian players on the international circuit before him – in particular, Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li and former world number 21 Bryan Yang. “Outside of Canada, I grew up watching Lee Chong Wei. But at home, these (Li and Yang) were the guys who paved the road,” he says.
From admiring them, Lai now both trains and travels with those he admired. “I train alongside Brian at the Mandarins Badminton Club in Ontario. Recently, after playing in these bigger tournaments, I’ve been able to train with Michelle a little bit. Just seeing her work ethic, how she trains, and her focus in training is really inspiring,” he says.
The same players speak highly of Lai and what he’s done for Canadian badminton. “It was a huge thing (to win a world championship medal), that too on debut. Ever since then, people have shown more respect for Canada’s name in badminton,” says Yang.
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Yang believes Lai will go a lot further. “I think his biggest skill is that he’s just so consistent. And his defence is definitely up there. It’s so hard to kill him. And his shot quality as well makes it just hard to get a good position to attack him in general. His net play is good as well. I think maybe the only thing that he’s lacking a bit is that finishing shot. But he does have good variation in his attack as well. So I think he’s definitely a really good player,” Yang says.
While he’s best known for his unexpected World medal, Lai doesn’t want to rest on his laurels. He’d rather continue to play under the brightest lights of international badminton. “I mean, my goals have definitely changed. I didn’t expect, obviously, to play so well at the World at such a young age. But now I just want to build on it. I want to improve my ranking, hopefully win a couple of tournaments here and there and continue improving as a player overall. I don’t want to dwell on the past even though I made history,” he says.
Published on Jan 13, 2026