Ahn Se-young defeats Chen Yuefei to reach World Championship final…30 years after Hwang Su-hyun
South Korean women’s badminton sensation Ahn Se-young is on the verge of a world title.
World No. 1 Ahn Se-young defeated China’s Chen Yufei, ranked No. 3, 2-0 (21-19, 21-15) in the women’s singles semifinals of the 2023 World Individual Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Saturday (June 26).
Ahn is the first South Korean to reach the women’s singles final in 30 years since Hwang Soo-hyun, who was runner-up at the 1993 event.
Her opponent in the final will be world No. 6 Carolina Marin (Spain).
If Ahn defeats Marin, she will make history by becoming the first South Korean to win the women’s singles title in the event’s history, which began in 1977.
Leading 16-11 in the first set, Ahn’s play suddenly faltered and she nearly dropped the first set.
At 16-14, she had two consecutive unforced errors to tie the match.
However, Ahn fought back and refused to give up the lead, winning a tense drive battle at 20-19.
The second set was tied at one or two points until midway through, when Ahn scored seven straight points from 14-15 to close out the match.
Ahn’s tenacious defense forced Chen Yufei into errors and her smashing attacks, both straight and diagonal, shone through.
There was also good news in the doubles event.
Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung defeated world No. 2 Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino (JPN) 2-0 (21-15, 21-13) in the mixed doubles semifinals.
It’s the first mixed doubles final since Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min won in 2003.
In the men’s doubles, Seo Seung-jae teamed up with Kang Min-hyuk to defeat Malaysia’s Aaron Chia-Sow Yin Lee 2-0 (23-21, 21-13) to reach the final.
It’s been nine years since the pairs of Ko Sung-hyun-Shin Baek-chul and Yoo Yeon-yong-Yong-dae split the men’s doubles gold and silver medals in 2014.
Only two Koreans have ever won two events at the same time at the Games, Park Joo-bong (1985 men’s doubles and mixed doubles, 1991 men’s doubles and mixed doubles) and Kim Dong-moon (1999 men’s doubles and mixed doubles).
The finals will begin at 7 p.m. ET on Sept. 27 with mixed doubles, 카지노사이트넷 women’s doubles, women’s singles, men’s singles and men’s doubles.