Bao Chunlai (; ; born 17 February 1983) is a retired left-handed badminton player from China.

Career The tall, powerful Bao ranked among the world's leading singles player during the first decade of the 21st century. He was a member of China's world champion Thomas Cup (men's international) teams in 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. Bao won medals at three of the six BWF World Championships that he played in, earning a bronze at the 2003 and 2007 editions, and a silver at the 2006 Championships in Madrid, where he upset first seeded Lee Chong Wei in the quarterfinals before falling to teammate Lin Dan in the final. A frequent finalist in top tier international tournaments, Bao had some difficulty breaking through in them until 2009, his most successful year, which saw him capture the Asian Championships, and the German, Singapore, and Japan Opens. In 2010 he upset his superbly accomplished compatriot Lin Dan in the quarterfinals of the prestigious All England Open but was then upset in turn by Japan's Kenichi Tago. Bao's repeat win that year at the German Open was his last tournament victory on the international circuit.

Bao officially retired from the national team on 21 September 2011. In 2015 he appeared in the sports action film Full Strike.

Achievements

World Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2003 National Indoor Arena, Birmingham, England Xia Xuanze 11–15, 7–15 Bronze 2006 Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad, Madrid, Spain Lin Dan 21–18, 17–21, 12–21 Silver 2007 Putra Indoor Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Lin Dan 12–21, 20–22 Bronze

Asian Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2009 Suwon Indoor Stadium, Suwon, South Korea Chen Long 16–21, 21–10, 21–16 Gold 2011 Sichuan Gymnasium, Chengdu, China Lin Dan 19–21, 13–21 Silver

World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2002 Tianhe Gymnasium, Guangzhou, China Sony Dwi Kuncoro 7–1, 7–5, 1–7, 7–5 Gold

BWF Superseries (3 titles, 5 runners-up) The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2007 Malaysia Open Peter Gade 15–21, 21–17, 14–21 Runner-up 2007 Indonesia Open Lee Chong Wei 15–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2007 Denmark Open Lin Dan 15–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2007 French Open Lee Chong Wei 11–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2007 China Open Lee Chong Wei 21–12, 21–13 Winner 2009 Singapore Open Boonsak Ponsana 21–19, 16–21, 21–15 Winner 2009 Japan Open Taufik Hidayat 21–15, 21–12 Winner 2010 China Open Chen Long 21–9, 14–21, 16–21 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix (5 titles, 10 runners-up) The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2001 Dutch Open Lee Tsuen Seng 1–7, 7–1, 5–7, 4–7 Runner-up 2001 Denmark Open Lin Dan 7–5, 7–1, 7–0 Winner 2004 Swiss Open Lin Dan 12–15, 6–15 Runner-up 2004 Japan Open Ronald Susilo 13–15, 6–15 Runner-up 2004 China Open Lin Dan 11–15, 10–15 Runner-up 2005 China Masters Lin Dan 6–15, 13–15 Runner-up 2005 Hong Kong Open Lin Dan 4–15, 6–15 Runner-up 2005 China Open Chen Hong 12–15, 15–8, 9–15 Runner-up 2006 Indonesia Open Taufik Hidayat 18–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2006 Korea Open Roslin Hashim 21–18, 21–16 Winner 2006 China Open Chen Hong 17–21, 19–21 Runner-up 2009 German Open Gong Weijie 21–18, 21–14 Winner 2010 German Open Chen Long 21–13, 21–10 Winner 2010 Korea Grand Prix Wang Zhengming 23–21, 21–18 Winner 2011 Malaysia Grand Prix Gold Lee Chong Wei 9–21, 19–21 Runner-up

Performance timeline

Singles performance timeline

Tournament20012002200320042005200620072008200920102011SRW–LWin %Summer OlympicsNH2R1–1NHQF2–1NH 0 / 2 3–2 60%World Championships ANHSF-B4–1NHQF3–1S5–1SF-B3–1NH1R0–13R2–1 A 0 / 6 17–6 74%World CupNHRR1–1RR1–1NH 0 / 2 2–2 50%World Superseries FinalsNH SF2–2 0 / 1 2–2 50%Asian ChampionshipsAbsent3R2–1G6–0 AS5–1 1 / 3 13–2 87%Asian GamesNH ANHQF2–1NH ANH 0 / 1 2–1 67%East Asian GamesNH ANH 0 / 0 Team CompetitionsThomas CupNHSF-B1–1NHG4–0NHG5–0NHG5–0NHG1–0NH 4 / 5 16–1 94%Sudirman Cup ANH ANH ANH ANH ANH A 0 / 0 Asian GamesNHSF-B0–0NHG2–0NHG0–0NH 2 / 3 2–0 100%East Asian GamesNH AMH 0 / 0 BWF World Superseries PremierKorea Open1R0–13R1–1 A3R2–1 AW6–0SF3–1QF2–1 AQF2–12R1–1 1 / 8 17–7 71%All England Open ASF4–13R2–12R1–1QF3–12R1–1SF3–1SF3–12R1–1SF3–12R1–1 0 / 9 18–9 67%Indonesia Open ASF4–13R2–1SF4–1 AF5–1F4–1SF3–1Absent2R1–1 0 / 7 23–7 77%Denmark OpenW6–0 A1R0–1AbsentF4–1Absent 1 / 3 10–2 83%China Open2R2–1 AQF3–1F5–1F5–1 AW5–0 A1R0–1F4–1 A 1 / 7 24–6 80%BWF World SuperseriesMalaysia Open1R2–1SF4–1QF3–1QF3–1SF4–1 AF4–1QF2–1 A2R1–11R0–1 0 / 9 23–9 72%India OpenNH3R1–1Absent 0 / 1 1–1 50%Singapore Open3R2–1QF3–1QF3–1SF4–1QF3–1SF4–1AbsentW5–0 A2R1–1 1 / 8 25–7 78%China MastersNHF4–1 AQF2–1SF3–12R1–1SF3–1 A 0 / 5 13–5 72%Japan Open AQF2–11R0–1F4–1QF2–12R0–11R0–1 AW5–0QF2–1 A 1 / 8 15–7 68%French OpenAbsentNHF4–1 AQF2–1Absent 0 / 2 6–2 75%Hong Kong Open ANHSF4–1NHF4–1 A2R1–1 ASF3–1Absent 0 / 4 12–4 75%BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand PrixGerman OpenAbsentSF4–1 ASF4–13R2–1AbsentW6–0W6–0 A 2 / 5 22–3 88%Swiss OpenAbsentF4–1Absent2R1–1SF3–11R0–1Absent 0 / 4 8–4 67%Dutch OpenF5–1Absent 0 / 1 5–1 83%Philippines OpenNH A3R2–1NH ANH 0 / 1 2–1 67%Macau OpenNHQF3–1QF3–11R0–1Absent 0 / 3 6–3 67%Korea OpenNHAbsentW5–0 A 1 / 1 5–0 100%U.S. OpenAbsentQF3–1 0 / 1 3–1 75%Career Statistics 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Tournaments Played 6 7 10 10 10 12 14 11 12 11 7 110Titles 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 1 4 4 0 15Finals Reached 2 0 0 4 3 5 5 1 4 5 1 29Overall win–loss 17–5 15–6 25–10 32–9 33–10 36–9 39–13 26–10 31–9 29–7 12–7 295–95Win Percentage 77% 71% 71% 78% 77% 80% 75% 72% 78% 81% 63% 75.64%Year End Ranking 8 8 8 31

Record against selected opponents Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi finalists, and Olympic quarter finalists, plus all Olympic opponents.

Chen Hong 2–8 Chen Jin 5–2 Chen Long 3–2 Chen Yu 6–1 Lin Dan 7–20 Xia Xuanze 1–1 Fung Permadi 1–0 Chou Tien-chen 1–0 Peter Gade 4–6 Joachim Persson 4–1 Kevin Cordón 1–0 Hu Yun 1–0 Taufik Hidayat 10–6 Hendrawan 1–0 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 9–3 Simon Santoso 4–0 Kenichi Tago 0–2 Shoji Sato 4–0 Lee Hyun-il 9–4 Park Sung-hwan 5–1 Park Tae-sang 2–2 Shon Seung-mo 5–1 Lee Chong Wei 4–13 Przemyslaw Wacha 5–0 Ronald Susilo 6–2 Boonsak Ponsana 6–2

Head-to-head vs. top 20 ranked players Bao's win–loss record against players who have been ranked world No. 20 or higher is as follows:

Players who have been Olympic, world champion or ranked world No. 1 are in boldface.

Nationality Player Head-to-head Chen Hong 4–5 Chen Jin 5–2 Chen Long 3–3 Du Pengyu 1–1 Lin Dan 5–20 Qiao Bin 2–0 Wang Zhengming 1–0 Xia Xuanze 1–1 Chou Tien-chen 1–0 Viktor Axelsen 0–1 Peter Gade 4–6 Kenneth Jonassen 1–1 Joachim Persson 4–1 Rajiv Ouseph 1–0 Andrew Smith 3–0 Marc Zwiebler 1–0 Chan Yan Kit 5–0 Hu Yun 1–0 Ng Wei 3–0 Wei Nan 1–0 Chetan Anand 1–0 Arvind Bhat 1–0 Parupalli Kashyap 3–0 Taufik Hidayat 9–5

Nationality Player Head-to-head Sony Dwi Kuncoro 7–3 Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 2–0 Simon Santoso 4–0 Sho Sasaki 6–0 Shōji Satō 5–0 Kenichi Tago 0–2 Takuma Ueda 1–0 Kazushi Yamada 2–0 Lee Hyun-il 9–4 Park Sung-hwan 5–1 Son Wan-ho 2–0 Chong Wei Feng 2–0 Lee Chong Wei 4–13 Muhammad Hafiz Hashim 2–2 Muhammad Roslin Hashim 6–1 Wong Choong Hann 9–3 Dicky Palyama 3–2 Przemysław Wacha 5–0 Kendrick Lee Yen Hui 3–0 Ronald Susilo 6–2 Boonsak Ponsana 6–1 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 4–2 Richard Vaughan 1–0

* Statistics are correct as of 28 October 2019.

Players with winning records against Bao

Nationality Player Head-to-head Chen Hong 4–5 Lin Dan 5–20 Wu Yunyong 0–1 Liao Sheng-shiun 0–1 Viktor Axelsen 0–1 Peter Gade 4–6

Nationality Player Head-to-head Budi Santoso 0–1 Keita Masuda 0–1 Kenichi Tago 0–2 Park Tae-sang 2–3 Lee Chong Wei 4–13 Ong Ewe Hock 0–1

Filmography Films Confidant (2019) The Match (2016) Full Strike (2015) Soul Transfer Station (2012) Bao Chunlai at hkmdb.com Bao Chunlai at chinesemov.com

References

External links

The Official Bao Chunlai Website Bao Chunlai's Blog