Quick Facts
Biography
Gong Ruina (simplified Chinese: 龚睿那; traditional Chinese: 龔睿那; pinyin: Gōng Ruìnà; born January 23, 1981 in Hunan) is a badminton player from the People's Republic of China.
Career
Gong Ruina was one of the world's leading women's singles players in the first few years of the 21st century. She won a number of top tier international titles including the 2001 IBF World Championships in Seville, Spain and the venerable All-England Championships (2004). In both of these events she defeated fellow countrywoman Zhou Mi, one of her principal rivals, in the finals. On the other hand, Gong was beaten by Zhou in the final of the Asian Games (2002), and was denied a bronze medal by her at the 2004 Athens Olympics after each had been beaten in the semifinals.
Gong played singles for China's world champion Uber Cup (women's international) teams of 2002 and 2004. Her other individual titles included the Brunei (1998), Swedish (1999), Malaysia (2001), China (2002), Indonesia (2002), Denmark (2003), and Swiss (2004) Opens. She was a bronze medalist at the 1999 IBF World Championships in Copenhagen, and a silver medalist behind fellow countrywoman Zhang Ning at the 2003 IBF World Championships in Birmingham, England.