Youngest player in badminton 3 years ago… now world’s No. 1
Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance), the ‘Queen of Badminton’, is challenging for the first gold medal in singles in 28 years since Bang Soo-hyun… Knee pain is the key issue. She will return to the Olympic court with a completely different status in 3 years.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, An Se-young was the youngest badminton player at 19 years old.
An Se-young, who had not yet reached her full potential, lost to the tournament’s number 1 seed, Chen Yufei (China), and was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
An Se-young, who couldn’t hold back her tears, said, “I prepared without regrets and got this level of results.
He vowed, “I have to prepare harder.”
Three years have passed since then.
Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ahn Se-young’s status is completely different from then.
An Se-young won 10 international competitions and was runner-up three times last year, and was awarded the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Female Player of the Year award.
Each and every step left a big mark on the history of Korean badminton.
Last March, she won the women’s singles gold medal for the first time in 27 years at the All England Open, the most prestigious badminton tournament, and in July, she defeated Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) to rise to world number one.
At the World Individual Championships in August, she made history by becoming the first Korean singles player to win, and about a month later, at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, she won two gold medals in the women’s singles and women’s team events.
Both gold medals were a feat that was achieved for the first time in 29 years since the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games.
However, that does not mean that Ahn Se-young’s race in preparation for her second Olympics was smooth.
The knee injury she suffered during the gold medal final at the Hangzhou Asian Games has been bothering An Se-young ever since.
Initially, it was thought that he had avoided major injury after receiving a short two-week rehabilitation diagnosis, but a re-examination resulted in the diagnosis that he would have to compete in the Olympics with pain.
An Se-young, who suffered from chronic pain and had a period of rehabilitation where her physical strength declined, showed ups and downs like riding a roller coaster this year.
After winning the Malaysian Open in January, she withdrew from the quarterfinals of the Indian Open the following week due to a thigh muscle injury, and in March, after winning the French Open, she was eliminated in the semifinals of the All England Open due to poor physical condition.
However, last year’s An Se-young was just too strong, this year’s An Se-young is still a strong gold medal candidate.
Among the world’s top 5, An Se-young has the most international competition wins (3), along with Carolina Marin (Spain).
Chen Weifei and Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) won once each, while Yamaguchi only finished as runner-up twice.
In addition, Ahn Se-young won and placed second at the Singapore Open and Indonesia Open last month, which were preliminary matches for the Olympics.
This was the first time since her return from injury that An Se-young had advanced to the finals of an international competition for two consecutive weeks.
A factor in Ahn Se-young’s rebound is said to be her successful adoption of an aggressive game management style.
Until now, Ahn Se-young had been suffocating her opponents with her tireless stamina and wide defensive range, but now she is trying to play the game efficiently by mixing in precise and sharp attacks.
This is to shorten the match time as his knees are not good, and at the same time to exploit the weaknesses of his competitors who have studied him.
This tournament is effectively the final puzzle piece of the ‘Grand Slam’ that An Se-young has set as her career goal.
After winning the World Individual Championships last year, Ahn Se-young set herself the goal of winning the Grand Slam (Olympic Games, World Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships) and achieved half of the four competitions by winning the Asian Games a month later.
Of the two remaining competitions, the Olympics, an international multi-sport competition held every four years, is by far the most difficult.
The Asian Individual Championships are held annually.
The first and last time that a Korean badminton player won a gold medal in the women’s singles at the Olympics was when Bang Soo-hyun won at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
At the national badminton team media day last month, Ahn Se-young said, “I’m just going to watch the Olympics.
He expressed his determination, saying, “I plan to give my all to the Paris Olympics,” and “In Paris, I want to show my ceremonies more often with a smile rather than a cry.”
/yunhap news
2024-07-04 22:19:52
#Taegeuk #Warrior #⑤ #Badminton #Seyoung
