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When it comes to relationships, they say that opposites attract.
Apparently, the same can be said of Team Canada badminton mixed doubles partners Josephine Wu and Joshua Hurlburt-Yu.
“We are definitely opposite sides of the spectrum,” Wu said ahead of Tokyo 2020.
When they’re not on the court, Wu can often be found playing tennis, squash or volleyball or hiking while Hurlburt-Yu enjoys relaxing and eSports.
“I find joy in going out and just being active. I don’t like to sit still,” Wu said.
The pair only came together by chance. They were practicing together during a tournament in 2018 when the idea came to take a run at qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“We started by coincidence,” Wu said. “I was saying how I didn’t really have a committed partner for international tournaments and he just said, ‘Well, I’ll play with you.’
“I looked in disbelief and said ‘Are you serious?’”
Serious they were. The pair have twice won Pan American championship gold, including this year in Guatemala, as well as the Pan Am Games title in Lima in 2019.
Now Wu, born in Edmonton, will make up part of the largest badminton team Canada has sent to an Olympic Games, with athletes in all five competitions.
“It means a great deal to all of us, especially as we all started the qualification process together,” Wu said.
Starting the sport at age seven, Wu was representing her country just six years later, and despite spending a lot of time in Toronto, ‘the hub of badminton in Canada’, early competition was good on the Prairies.
“Growing up, the level is not too bad at home,” Wu said. “But as peoples’ priorities change, the level drops.
“I hope that by qualifying, I can show that opportunities can open up for the young players here.”
Wu was lucky enough to apply for an exemption to train for large parts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was determined to not let it defeat her.
The 26-year-old is hopeful that she and Hurlburt-Yu can make it out of the pool stage by finishing in the top four, but the group stage format is not without its flaws.
At London 2012, an infamous incident saw several athletes not playing to win in the group stage in an attempt to manufacture results and engineer the draw in their favour. Four teams were disqualified from the tournament.
“I think they will be smart about it this time and not release things ahead of time,” Wu said of the format.
When not on the courts of the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, Wu hopes to be out trading pin badges and adding to her extensive collection, something that is a huge tradition of the Games.
As Wu talked of a unique Taiwan baseball pin she acquired at the World University Games ,she admitted: “I go a little bit overboard.”
Wu and Hurlburt-Yu get their mixed doubles campaign underway on July 24.
Listen to the full interview – https://iono.fm/e/1076954