Korean women’s badminton sign Ahn Se-young▶ Click here for a larger view
In the 27th World Individual Badminton Championships this year, Korea has not yet won a single gold medal in the singles event.
The World Individual Championships, first held in Sweden in 1977, is an international competition with the highest authority among competitions in which five individual events (men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles) are held in a tournament format.
Korea won the men’s doubles four times, the women’s doubles once, and the mixed doubles five times, but there was no relationship with the championship in the men’s and women’s singles event.
The best record was that in the 8th tournament in 1993, Suh Suhyeon of the women’s singles took the runners-up, and Seongwu Park of the 9th tournament in 1995 won the silver medal in the men’s singles.
As the protagonist who will end the 45-year history of military service, Ahn Se-young (20), who is a sign of Korean women’s badminton and is ranked 3rd in the world, is the most likely.
Ahn Se-young will compete in the women’s singles at the 2022 World Individual Championships to be held at Tokyo Metropolitan Stadium, Japan from the 22nd.
Ahn Se-young, who advanced to the round of 32 by bye, is scheduled to play her first match on the 24th.
Ahn Se-young, who won two gold medals at this year’s Korea Open Badminton Championships and Malaysia Masters Badminton Championships, is considered a strong candidate for the championship.
The match against world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi (Japan), who is expected to face in the semi-finals, is expected to be the biggest turning point for the championship.
Ahn Se-young won her first championship after defeating Yamaguchi 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2019 French Open Championship to reach the final.
In the final of the Indonesia Masters Badminton Championships in November last year, he defeated Yamaguchi 2-0 to lift the trophy.
However, after losing to Yamaguchi in succession at the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals and the 2021 World Individual Badminton Championships, he began to show an inferiority complex.
In the 11th match held in the final of the All-Young Open, the most prestigious badminton tournament held in March, they also lost to Yamaguchi, leaving their career record 4-7.
Ga-eun Kim (24) and Yu-jin Shim (23) also participated in Korea’s first women’s singles championship.
Kim Ga-eun and Shim Yu-jin, the protagonists of the women’s team victory at the 2022 World Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships, are also expected to perform at the top.
Badminton women’s doubles Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan▶ Click here for a larger view
In the men’s singles event, Heo Kwang-hee (27), who won the 7th World Military Sports Festival in 2019, participated alone.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Gwang-Hee Heo made a breakthrough in advancing to the quarterfinals by defeating world No. 1 Kento Momota (Japan).
In October of last year, he defeated Momota again at the World Team Championships, earning him the nickname ‘Giant Killer’.
Heo Kwang-hee and Momota must both advance to the semi-finals in this tournament to face off against each other.
In the women’s doubles event, the world’s third-placed Sohee Lee (28) and Shin Seung-chan (28) and fourth place Kim So-young (30)-Gong Hee-yong (26) will challenge for the gold medal.
Following Gil Young-ah and Jang Hye-ok, who won the 9th championship in 1995, it is expected that they will be able to take the top spot for the first time in 27 years.
China’s Libra-Zaipan, who are number one in the world, and Japan’s Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka, who are second in the world, must overcome the barriers to win the championship.
Men’s doubles Seo Seung-jae (25) – Choi Sol-gyu (27), Kang Min-hyeok (23) – Kim Jae-hwan (26) are also aiming for the championship for the first time in eight years since Go Seong-hyeon and Shin Baek-cheol in 2014.
Seo Seung-jae and Choi Sol-gyu pair up with Chae Yoo-jeong (27) and Shin Seung-chan, respectively, to participate in mixed doubles.
[연합뉴스]
Copyrights ⓒ Yonhap News. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
