Toronto: Michelle Li of Canada who won gold medal four years ago at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, won her second Pan Am women’s singles crown on Thursday, after she defeated her training partners, and doubles teammates Rachel Honderich 21-15, 21-9 in the final.
Despite their friendship, with a gold medal on the line, Michelle Li and Rachel Honderich took the match very seriously when they played against each other in the Pan Am women’s singles final. Li managed to shrug off the ankle and knee injury she sustained from the Canadian Open few weeks ago, to ease past Honderich in 26 minutes to win the gold.
“It’s incredible! It’s a really good win,” said Li after the match.
“Of course, it would be better if I could beat another player. But I think we’re both mature enough to know that this is just part of the game,” added the 23-year-old Li.
Li and Honderich teamed up together to win the women’s doubles bronze for Canada earlier in the week.
In the second match of the day, Americans Phillip Chew and Jamie Subandhi fought through three challenging sets to dispatch Canada’s Toby Ng and Alex Bruce in the mixed doubles final, winning 21-9, 21-23, 21-12 in 31 minutes.
Meanwhile, Kevin Cordon of Guatemala beat Canadian Andrew D’Souza 21-13, 21-14 on Thursday for the men’s singles gold.