Victor Lai: Looking to Make an Impact

Riding a string of impressive performances in 2025, Victor Lai will head to the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025 as one of the players to watch in men’s singles.

The 20-year-old has had a breakthrough season, winning the Pan Am Championships and making the final of the YONEX Canada Open. Victories over players like Brian Yang, Kevin Cordon, Jeon Hyeok Jin, and most remarkably, Kodai Naraoka, will ensure he is seen as a potentially dangerous opponent in Paris.

“It means a lot (to qualify) because in 2023, I think I missed out the qualification by just a couple of ranking spots,” said the 20-year-old. “Now that I’ve been doing better this season, and the fact that I qualified for my first World Championships, it shows that I’m headed in the right direction.”

While Lai has been on the senior circuit over the last three years, it was at the Pan Am Championships in April that he struck big, winning all his matches in straight games – including his quarterfinal over Job Castillo (21-13 21-6) and semifinal over Kevin Cordon (21-10 21-14) – his first win over the Guatemalan veteran in seven matches. In the other semifinal, Joshua Nguyen had upset favourite Brian Yang, and so the title contest was between Pan Am’s two emerging players.

“Before the final I was very, very nervous, because it’s my childhood rival, Josh. And the fact that he beat Brian… he was definitely very confident,” recalled Lai.

“But then at the same time, I beat Kevin Cordon in straight games. So I was also feeling very confident. But I tried not to think about the match too much. The night before, I was just doing my match analysis and regular stuff like that, but I wasn’t thinking about winning. I was thinking more about going out there and fighting because I knew it would be a tough match.”

Lai would take the title after another straight-games result.

“At that moment, I didn’t really realise how big it was. But after reflecting, I think, being a Pan Am champion is pretty surreal. And to win in two straight games and to have my coach there as well was awesome.”

Lai credits the uptick in form to his new trainers Daniel Li and Spencer Quon, who have worked on getting him stronger. After beating Jeon Hyeok Jin at the Sudirman Cup, Lai would go on to make the quarterfinals of the US Open – with victories over Wang Po-Wei and Su Li Yang – before his sensational week at his home Canada Open, where he had to start in qualifying.

He couldn’t have asked for a better tournament on home turf. A first round upset of Brian Yang, followed by three-game wins over Arnaud Merkle, Eogene Ewe and Kodai Naraoka, were illustrative of his improved abilities and fitness in long matches.

“I think most of the success has been through my training,” Lai said. “I’ve been really focussing more on the physical aspect. Like in strength training and cardio, because that was what was lacking before this year. I feel a lot stronger on court, physically. And that really helped me to pull off some of the good wins this season.

“Overall, the past couple of years, I’ve really been lacking in the physical side, the strength side. Like the leg strength, the smash strength, and just the endurance on court. I’ve really been focussing on more to the point where it’s a bigger priority than badminton training.

“And it definitely showed… I could go on for 100 minutes. And the fact that I could last and not like gas out, it shows that it’s important. That was a very conscious decision to train the physical side.”

Victor Lai acknowledges his home crowd after beating Kodai Naraoka

Lai will compete at the Junior Pan Am Games before heading to Denmark in the run-up to the World Championships. A chance to make an impact awaits.

“The World Championships is definitely a big one,” he says. “Because when people ask, you can say I’m representing Canada at the World Championships, which not everyone can do. So I’m honoured, obviously, and very excited to represent Canada. I don’t want to think too far, but I also don’t want to put too many expectations.

“Because it’s my first one, there’ll definitely be pressure and nerves. But if I can win a couple of rounds, that’d be pretty nice.”