Josephine Yuenling Wu (born 20 January 1995) is a Canadian badminton player.[2][3] She clinched three Pan American Games gold medals by winning the mixed doubles title in 2019 and 2023, and in the women's doubles title in 2023.[4][5] At the Pan Am Championships, she has won seven gold and five silver medals since her debut at the tournament in 2016.[6]
Early and personal life
Wu is currently a business student at the University of Alberta and has been competing in badminton since she was seven years old.
Career
As a junior, she won 29 provincial titles and was a member of Team Canada at the 2012 BWF World Junior Championships and the Pan Am Junior Badminton Championships from 2008 to 2013. Despite having a full course load in university, Josephine's passion for the sport has motivated her to continue balancing her school work and training. She was the mixed doubles winner at the 2014 College-University National Championships and went on to represent Canada at the 2014 World University Badminton Championships in Cordoba, Spain. Outside of training, Josephine also enjoys coaching her high school's badminton team.[7] In 2016, she won the gold medal in the mixed team event at the Pan Am Badminton Championships.[8] In the individual event, she won the Pan Am Championships gold medals in the women's doubles in 2016, and 2017, and also in the mixed doubles in 2018, 2019 and 2021.[9][10][11] Wu was a gold medalist in the mixed doubles event at the 2019 Lima Pan American Games.[4]
In 2023, Wu took the gold medal in the women's doubles with Catherine Choi and the silver medal with Ty Alexander Lindeman at the Pan Am Championships. This was the seven gold medals won by Wu since her debut at the Championships in 2016.[6] She then made her second appearance at the Pan American Games and captured two gold medals by winning the women's doubles with Choi and the mixed doubles with Lindeman.[5] She also won double title in the Guatemala International, and the mixed doubles title in the Peru Challenge.
In 2024, Wu joined the Canada winning team at the Pan Am Female Cup.[16] She won the mixed doubles title at the Polish Open partnered with Lindeman.[17] As the first seeded at the Pan Am Championships both in the mixed and women's doubles,[18] she had to settle for the bronze medals in both events after being defeated by the American pairs.
