Text by BWF
Ten months after she was last seen in action, Josephine Wu made her return in February, still on the road to recovery after surgery for a major right knee injury that had dashed her qualification chances for Paris 2024.
Heading to the final qualifying event – the Pan Am Individual Championships in April 2024 – the Canadian was among the leading contenders from the continent in both women’s doubles and mixed, but she’d been playing for months with a meniscus tear and a damaged ACL in her right knee. Having come to the very edge of qualifying, the effort of playing two disciplines with a damaged knee proved a barrier too high, and Paris 2024 would remain just beyond reach.
She talks about the injury and what it meant for her Olympic dreams, her return to the circuit this year, and upcoming events like the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2025.
Playing With Injury
“I injured myself (meniscus in right knee) in the midst of my Olympic qualification and I needed surgery, but I could somehow kind of play. So I asked my surgeon if I could my surgery on hold. I was in contention to qualify for two events, so I played on it, I ended up also injuring my ACL which I did not realise until I got my surgery.
“I was playing a local tournament and it was a freak accident and in the moment it didn’t feel that severe. Then I got an MRI and the results came back and I was shocked. I played from December (2023) until April (2024) on it and it was a gruesome year because of Olympic qualification. Obviously playing two events on an injury was not ideal and I don’t know how but I was playing some of my best badminton.
“On the day of the (Pan Am) semifinals it was hard for me to get up because I’d played four matches the day before. It was in Guatemala, it was hot, there were so many factors. I remember getting out of bed and my whole body was hurting so bad. I told myself I just need to get through today and my body was telling me it wasn’t.
“I would come off the match and it hurt to walk. It was that bad but what you’re going for was the Olympics. I think looking back I should have just picked one event and maybe that would have increased my chances of qualifying. But how could I tell one of my partners I’m sorry? I had that guilt. So it was tough for me, but in the end I feel like I made the right decision, I didn’t give up.
Getting Back
“I went through surgery last June and then I focussed on getting back on both feet and walking, which was very tough. This was actually my second surgery; I had my Achilles surgery a while back, and this time around, I thought it was easy because I recovered from my Achilles rupture, I played my first tournament four months post-op. So I went to the surgery thinking I’d recover fast and it would be a fast process, but no, I realised I’m not young anymore. So it was a lengthy process. I was just taking it day by day and learning to respect my body. What it’s telling me that it doesn’t like what I’m doing and I need rest. I think that was very hard for me to accept because as badminton players we just push, that’s all we know.
“I had to go day by day and build a programme to start from the basics. I started from just stationary shots and just learning badminton. I think I got the green light to run in November. I progressed really fast but my ligament just was talking longer to settle down. I had a lot of swelling, so that was something I had to navigate.”
Dealing With Disappointment
“It was definitely devastating… and as much as it hurt that I didn’t qualify, I think I was also really relieved a couple of weeks later that I could finally get surgery and just get rid of the pain because playing on was not easy.
“I think I forgot how much I loved the sport. I would go and sit at training because I wanted to know what I was missing out on; that was how bad I missed it. It was just nice to for once not have to worry about what’s the next tournament.”
Returning to the Circuit
“Honestly, I came out to play a little bit earlier than I should have, but I really want to qualify for the World Championships this year. So I had to make that push.
“It felt very new again, which is funny because it was my life for the last seven-eight years. I’m seeing people that I haven’t seen in a while, Everything felt fresh.
“The weeks leading up to my first competition for the Orleans Masters I was very excited to get back on court. Even though physically I’m not 100 per cent, I’m still eager to get out and keep trying. I like so give myself a target and see if I can do better than the last tournament. Those are aspects that I love about sport.”
Sudirman Cup
“Being selected to represent Canada at such a big event is always an honour and it’s such a great event for us to get some good quality matches with high level players. Badminton’s an individual sport, you’re so used to competing against each other; even for the Olympics, you’re competing against your teammates. So it’s just nice to play the team event where everyone’s cheering for each other and being supportive and training together, wanting to the best for each other.
“It looks like an interesting group (with Korea, Chinese Taipei and Czechia). We have Michelle (Li), we’ve got Brian (Yang), our juniors are also coming up very strong and with these big events, everyone’s nervous. So you never know what can happen. Our team is very strong and has been coming up and producing some really good results. So I’m confident that we’ll put on a good show.”
