Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's singles the knock-out stage, ultimately leading to the winner. 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
China at the 2012 Summer Olympics became the second diver in Chinese history to defend two Olympic titles at a single games, after Guo Jingjing did so in two springboard events in 2008. Successful defending champions are marked in bold. The Chinese Olympic Committee selected a team of 396 athletes, 171 men and 225 women, to compete in 23 sports. Equestrian, football, and handball were the only sports in which China had no representation in 2012. The Chinese team featured 29 defending champions from the Beijing games, including springboard diver Wu Minxia, light flyweight boxer Zou Shiming, gymnasts Zou Kai and Chen Yibing, and badminton player