Brian Yang

Biography

Brian Yang has a history of making history. In 2016, he won the U19 singles national title at age 14, the youngest junior champion ever in Canada. He followed that up in 2017 by becoming the youngest ever U23 national champion, winning that singles title at age 15. In 2019, he became the youngest to ever win the senior national singles title. 

Yang made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 but was unable to advance past the group stage. Two years earlier, he’d won men’s singles silver in his first appearance at the Pan Am Games at Lima 2019. In his return to the Pan Am Games at Santiago 2023, Yang won the gold medal in men’s singles, defeating decorated veteran Kevin Cordon in straight sets in the final.  

In 2021, Yang was Team Canada’s co-flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony of the inaugural Junior Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. He went on to win gold in singles and mixed doubles with Rachel Chan. Yang represented Canada at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, winning gold as part of Team Alpha in the mixed team relay event.

At the end of the 2021 season, he made his first appearance at the senior BWF World Championships, reaching the round of 16 in men’s singles. He’d make the round of 32 in his second go at the tournament in 2023.

Yang has enjoyed great success in continental competitions. He won singles gold at the Pan American Championships in 2021 and 2023, sandwiched around a silver medal in 2022. He added a bronze medal in 2024.   

Yang had a breakout performance at the 2016 Junior Pan American Championships where he won four gold medals. He has since won five more gold medals at the Junior Pan Am Championships, including two in 2019 in Moncton, when he won the singles and boys’ doubles and added a silver in mixed doubles. 

Yang competed at four BWF World Junior Championships, advancing to the Round of 32 in singles three times (2017, 2018, 2019) and mixed doubles twice (2016, 2018). In 2018, he competed in his first major events as a senior, the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia and the Pan American Championships. He returned to the Commonwealth Games in 2022. 

In December 2022, Yang achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 21 in men’s singles. In January 2024, he became the first men’s singles player from the Pan American region to ever reach the final of a BWF Super Tour 500 event, coming away from the Indonesia Masters with the silver medal. To get there, he earned his first ever victory over a top-five ranked player.  

A Little More About Brian

Getting into the Sport: Started badminton training when he was eight… Played in his first tournament before he started formal badminton training and didn’t really know the rules but managed to win a U10 singles title and the $20 cash prize… Knew he wanted to represent Canada while watching Vancouver 2010… Outside Interests: Enjoys playing video games… Studying kinesiology with the goal of becoming an athletic therapist… Odds and Ends: Favourite quote: “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan… Inspired by Malaysian legend, Lee Chong Wei, for his work ethic on and off the court as well as his humble attitude…