Seyoung Ahn. Photo = Getty Images Korea
‘Queen of Shuttlecock’ makes a splendid achievement in the opening match of the World Badminton World Tour
2-1 against world 4th place Taiwan Tai Tzu-ying
Fighting spirit with thigh and knee taping
Won first international competition since AG last year
Confidence boost… Paris Olympics green light
I finally did it.
‘Shuttlecock Queen’ World No. 1 Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance) won a gold medal in the first international competition of the new year.
Ahn Se-young defeated Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying (30), ranked fourth in the world, 2-1 (10-21, 21-10, 21-18) in the 2024 Malaysia Open women’s singles final held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 14th (Korean time) and finished on the podium. stood at the very top. The Malaysia Open is the highest-rated Super 1000 series on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour, marking the opening of the new season.
Ahn Se-young’s gold medal was tearful. Perhaps due to not fully recovering from her injuries, she went into the game with her right knee and thigh taped. She got off to a shaky start at the start of the race. While Ahn Se-young’s control was unstable, her opponent Tai Tzu-ying’s sharp diagonal smash was powerful as it hit the inside of her court. They were pushed back in the rally battle, and the score gap quickly widened to 9-19, and they lethargically lost the first game to 10-21. It was only 13 minutes.
However, Ahn Se-young was not one to just sit down. In his second game, his ball control came back to life and he began to dominate the game with sharp smashes at every crisis. He maintained the lead the entire time and finished with 21-10.
It was in the third game that Ahn Se-young’s true value shined. Ahn Se-young trailed 1-3 in the beginning, but made it 5-5 and then led 11-9, 18-13, 19-15, etc. She ended up winning the match 21-18.
It was his first international victory since the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year, when he showed his fighting spirit and won two gold medals. He took about 40 days off to recover from his injury and participated in three tournaments, but was eliminated in the round of 16 at the China Masters and had to be satisfied with advancing to the semifinals at the Japan Masters and World Tour Finals.
This win served as an opportunity for Ahn Se-young to boost her confidence once again. In the short term, it gave the green light to winning the most prestigious All England Open for the second time in a row and winning the Paris Olympics in July.
Meanwhile, World No. 7 mixed doubles Won-ho Kim (Samsung Life Insurance) and Na-eun Jeong (Hwasun County Office) failed to hunt for the gold medal by losing 0-2 (18-21, 15-21) in the final against Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Higashiro Arisawa. did.
Jaemin Kwon, Sports Donga Reporter [email protected] See more articles by this reporter
2024-01-14 22:02:01
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