Career
A women's doubles specialist, since 2001 Wei has competed on the world circuit in partnership with a variety of her fellow countrywomen, but most often with either Zhao Tingting or Zhang Yawen. A member of China's perennial world champion Uber Cup teams, in the biggest events for individual players (such as the BWF World Championships, the All-England Championships, and the Olympic Games) Wei and her partners have usually been overshadowed by China's two dominant women's doubles pairs, Gao Ling and Huang Sui, and Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen. One exception came at the 2007 All-Englands where Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen defeated both of these teams to capture the highly coveted title. Her other women's doubles titles include the China (2001), Singapore (2001, 2007), Denmark (2002, 2004), Thailand (2003), Indonesia (2006), and French (2007) Opens.
Wei has medaled four times at the BWF World Championships without "striking gold". She earned a silver with Zhang Jiewen in 2001, a silver with Zhao Tingting in 2003, a silver with Zhang Yawen in 2006, and a bronze with Zhang Yawen in 2007. She finished fourth at the 2004 Olympics in Athens with Zhao Tingting. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics Wei and Zhang Yawen were beaten in the semifinals by yet another Chinese pair, Du Jing and Yu Yang, who went on to win the gold medal. Wei and Zhang earned a bronze medal by defeating Japan's Miyuki Maeda and Satoko Suetsuna in the playoff for third place.
In 2008, Wei retired from the national team. However, she is still playing by partnering with Gao Ling. They lost to Yang Wei/Zhang Jiewen in the Thailand Open 2009.
Read more about this topic: Wei Yili
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