For an opponent standing across the badminton net from twin sisters Kerry and Annie Xu, it would be hard to strategize the weaknesses and strengths of each in the heat of battle — since it’s perplexing to figure out who’s who due to their similar appearances.
“Very hard for the opponent to say ‘hey, which one is not good today,’” laughed coach Harry Tan.
Though the twin Xu sisters are individuals in every respect, their play on the badminton court has become one of a singular force — that’s propelled them to a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the doubles category, even after a four-year layoff during which they barely touched a racket.
“We are like considered pretty close,” said Kerry Xu, sitting inside Milpitas’ Bay Badminton Club where the sisters have trained the last fourteen years. “More like best friends.”
For the record — Annie is the older of the twins. By two minutes. Aside from that two-minute separation, they’ve been together most of the journey since. They did homework together. Shopped together. And of course played together. As kids, their parents had them try out a variety of sports. Badminton was the one that stuck.
“We started the sport when we were eight years old,” Kerry said. “Kind of picked it up kind of recreationally at first.”
They initially viewed badminton — once the domain of beaches and backyard parties — strictly as a fun exercise. But as they hit their teens the trophy case began to swell, and they began standing their ground on the court against older athletes.
“I don’t think that ever really hit us, like ‘oh we’re good,’” Annie said. “We’re always aiming for the next level higher.”
In pursuit of that next level, badminton carried them wide and far for competitions — they stamped their passports in Taiwan, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. Olympics weren’t even a distant waypoint on the trajectory then.
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But when it came time to start college, the sisters decided it was time to set badminton aside. They enrolled in U.C. Berkeley — each studying accounting — and put the rackets down.
“In the end because we didn’t have enough time to continuously play badminton or train,” Kerry said. “We decided to focus on our academic careers first.”
The pandemic only added to their athletic isolation.
“During the pandemic we completely stopped for three to four years,” Annie said. “Not touched a single racket.”
Post-college, Annie and Kerry were working corporate accounting jobs when the badminton bug remerged. They picked up the rackets — a little at a time at first. It was difficult. There were new aches and pains as their bodies re-acclimated to athletic lives.
“When we first picked up a racket again coming back,” Annie said. “I was like super happy to be even playing.”
Now there was also a carrot beckoning them forward in the form of the coming Olympic Games. They set the target and took leave of absences from their jobs.
“We decided it would be best to put one-hundred-and-ten-percent of our effort and time onto like chasing this Olympic dream,” Kerry said.
The sisters qualified for the Olympic Games, competing in Santiago, Chile in the Pan American Games where they earned silver medals. They’re now unified in preparation for the games, practicing daily at the Bay Badminton Club which has been a second home the last fourteen years.
“Very hard to see someone that can comeback after you quit three or four years and not touching your racket at all,” Tan said. “And come back and make it happen in two years time - it’s really hard.”
The Xu’s first dream was to qualify for the Olympics. With that achieved, they’ve set another goal — which transcends beyond just bringing home medals.
“Next one might be like to try and promote the sport and grow the sport in the United States,” Annie said. “Because it’s not real well known right now.”
In their pursuit, the sisters learned the road to the Olympics is an expensive one - and since the U.S. doesn’t have a national badminton team to fund them, the women have been tasked with raising their own funds to travel to the games. Their home club has helped raise some of the funding, with the sisters launching a GoFundMe to help dent the cost of the trip.
“Thinking about how much financial effort we’ve put into like competing,” Annie said. “That kind of built a little bit of stress when we were competing.”
The stress of fundraising has now taken a backseat to the stress of training. They’re hoping their wonder-twin powers will help push them as they hit the courts of Paris. Unlike most competitors, they’ve had an entire lifetime to refine the team.
“It made our bond even closer,” Kerry said. “I think that reflects on the court.”
