Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's singles Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's singles The badminton women's singles tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place from 28 July to 4 August at Wembley Arena. The draw was held on 23 July 2012. Forty-six players from 42 nations competed. In an all-Chinese final, Li Xuerui defeated reigning world number one Wang Yihan to win the gold medal. India's Saina Nehwal took bronze. For the first time, the preliminary stage consisted of 16 groups of either two or three players. Each played every other member of the group with the top players advancing to
Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics silver and one bronze won. India and Russia won a medal in badminton for the first time. For the first time there was a combination of group play and knockout stages in the Olympic badminton tournament, following its introduction at the 2010 Youth Summer Olympics in Singapore. All matches were the best of three games, with each game won by the first player to reach 21 points. If the score reached 20–20, the winner was the first player to lead by two points. If the score reached 29–29, the player who won the next point won the match. The draw