Technically speaking, Lillian Li is as solid as they come in the sport of badminton, within her age group on a local level. The 13 year-old grade eight student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School can discuss, with ease, various aspects of the game, the stroke, the strategies.

And while all of this has rendered her quite good, most notably in singles play, Li would still be quite content simply to enjoy badminton for the love of the sport. Competition, per se, isn't necessarily her thing.

Still, she mustered enough of a competitive edge to recently capture top spot in U15 Girls Singles play at the KTP Racquet Club - Junior Open in North Bay, joining a small but very talented Sudbury delegation which returned home with a bevy of podium placements.

First introduced to badminton via her father (Hao Li), Lillian has absorbed the fundamentals and then some, stepping on to the court with a clear-cut vision of what she hopes to accomplish.

"In singles, especially, the goal is to make the other person run as much as possible so that they get tired and you can place them in a bad spot where they can't actually hit the bird," said Li. And while that might allow her to control the middle of the court, she understands that her skills will be tested as she faces more challenging opponents.

"Now, I am working a lot on my footwork," she said. "You practice the same thing and try and cover the whole court. Mostly, you're trying to get to the corners, the front and the back, and side to side."

"Usually when you start a game, you start in the middle - so the corners and sides are the places you want to practice to get to, since they're not covered."

While Li displays an adeptness for all of her basic strokes, it is likely the less natural of the two where she shines the most. "For some reason, for me, my backhand is easier for me to use my strength, since you are using your thumb and not your whole wrist," she explained.

"For the forehand, you would try and have your middle of your index finger and thumb pointing to the side of the racquet while holding it, but when you're switching it to the backhand, you move it a tiny bit."

Locals who joined Li in earning first place finishes in North Bay included Gillian Obradovich (U19 Girls Singles), Dominik Brunette-Royer and partner Cheukman Zhou from Newmarket (U19 Boys Doubles), Obradovich and North Bay representative Kaya Minagawa (U19 Girls Doubles) and Obradovich and Brunette-Royer (U19 Mixed Doubles).

Sudbury and area silver medallists featured Eryn Long from Markstay (U19 Girls Singles), Brian Fink (U19 Boys Singles), as well as Fink and Matteo Rocca (U19 Boys Doubles).

Remaining results of note:

Cole Rosener (U17 Boys Singles) - Consolation Winner
Nathaniel Couture (U17 Boys Singles) - Consolation Finalist
Matteo Rocca (U19 Boys Singles) - Bronze
Matteo Rocca and Lillian Li (U19 Mixed Doubles) - Consolation Winners

November results for the crew that are currently training out of The Baseball Academy on Lorne Street were also quite good, with Matteo Rocca earning a second place finish at a Badminton Ontario Junior "C" event in North Bay while Gillian Obradovich garnered a consolation crown at an Ontario Badminton Junior "B" tournament in Stratford.

Given the recent surge in Covid numbers, a pair of events in the new year may be in jeopardy as local athletes look forward to participating in the 2022 Ontario Winter Games (Petawawa - February 24th-27th) as well as the NOBA (Northern Ontario Badminton Association) Junior Championships slated to run from March 25th to the 27th in North Bay.