in competitive table tennis the following year. At 18, she became a Singapore citizen. Professional career Ranked 18th in the world in 2000, Li achieved gold medals in the women's team, women's doubles and mixed doubles events at the XVII Commonwealth Games held between 25 July and 4 August 2002 in Manchester, and was ranked eighth in November 2002. The following year, in December 2003, Li was a member of the Singapore team which swept the top awards at the 23rd Southeast Asian Games in the women's team, women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. On 3 July 2004, Li took gold in the women's singles at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Pro Tour US Open in Chicago. Subsequently, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, she defeated the second-seeded China player Wang Nan but eventually finished in fourth place. In 2005, she was second in the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals, and gained silver medals for the women's singles and mixed doubles at the 23rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held between 28 November and 4 December 2005 in Manila. She was also the key player in the gold-winning women's team and women's doubles events. In December 2005, she was ranked third in the world as a singles player. She won an individual Singapore Youth Award in 2005 and was Her World magazine's Young Woman Achiever of 2005. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Li won gold for the women's team and women's doubles, and the silver medal for the women's singles and mixed doubles events. Subsequently, she won the women's singles at the ITTF Pro Tour Russia Open. She also achieved third place in the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals and the Women's World Cup, which are two of the most prestigious and difficult competitions in the table tennis arena. At the 15th Asian Games held from 29 November to 7 December 2006 in Doha, Qatar, she achieved three medals: a silver for the women's team event and two bronzes for the women's singles and mixed doubles. The next year, she won gold in the singles at the ITTF Pro Tour Chinese Taipei Open in Taipei, and helped Singapore to the top spots in the women's team and mixed doubles events at the 2007 SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Thailand. As at August 2008, Li was ranked sixth in the world. She won the accolade of