“A milestone in my career”… Badminton Ahn Se-young wins Jeon Young Open women’s singles title in 27 years
Ahn Se-young (21, Samsung Life Insurance, world No. 2) of the Korean badminton team won the women’s singles event at the Jeonyeong Open, which is called the ‘Wimbledon of badminton’. Ahn Se-young became the first Korean player to reach the top of the badminton women’s singles 27 years after Bang Su-hyeon in 1996. The Korean national team performed well by winning gold and silver medals in women’s doubles.
In the 2023 Jeonyeong Open women’s singles final held in Birmingham, England on the 19th (Korean time), Ahn Se-young won the championship by defeating China’s Chen Yufei (world No. 4) with a set score of 2-1 (21-17 10-21 21-19)바카라사이트. occupied It is the first time in 27 years that a Korean player has won the women’s singles at the Jeonyeong Open. In all events, it was the first gold medal in 6 years since the 2017 women’s doubles Jang Ye-na and Lee So-hee. In her first appearance in 2020, she was knocked out in the round of 32 and finished runner-up last year.
In the semi-finals, Ahn Se-young advanced to the final after beating Taiwan’s Dai Zi-ying, who was ranked third in the world, 2-1 (17-21 21-19 24-22). Yufei Chen advanced to the final after defeating last year’s Jeonyoung Open champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, current world number one, 2-0 (21-7 21-8).
Ahn Se-young succeeded in overpowering Chen Yu-fei with solid defense and exquisite decision power from the first set. In the 15-12 situation in the first set, Ahn Se-young blocked Chen Yu-fei’s strong attack with two consecutive throws. Chen Yufei made a series of mistakes and gave away points to An Sei-young. Ahn Se-young started the game in a good mood, winning the first set 21-17.
Ahn Se-young gave up the second set unfortunately, but regained her strength in the third set. In a 1-0 situation, Ahn Se-young succeeded in scoring after 59 rallies with Chen Yu-fei and took the lead in the game. Ahn Se-young stepped on the 11-point high first with a score of 11-7, and then took the win as both requests for in and out challenges were accepted. Ahn Se-young allowed Chen Yu-fei to chase 20-19 at the end of the game, but finished the close match with a powerful mid-smashing attack.
After winning the championship, Ahn Se-young said, “I can’t believe it. I am so happy to be able to achieve good results in such a wonderful stadium.” Ahn Se-young said, “It seems that another stroke has been drawn in my career,” and “I am proud of myself, and I think I need to grow one step further.”
Korea also added one gold medal and one silver medal in the women’s doubles final. In the final match between Korean players, Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong (#6 in the world) defeated So-hee Lee and Hana Baek (#20 in the world) 2-0 (21-5 21-12) to win the gold medal. Kim So-young and Gong Hee-young, who won the only medal (bronze medal) in badminton in Korea at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, took the top spot in a major international competition a year after winning the Gwangju Korea Masters in April last year.
It is the first time in 15 years since the men’s doubles (Jung Jae-seong and Lee Yong-dae) and women’s doubles (Lee Kyung-won and Lee Hyo-jeong) gold medals in 2008 that Korean badminton won two gold medals at the Jeonyeong Open.
Korea also added a silver medal in mixed doubles. Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung (world No. 9) lost to world No. 1 Jeong Shi-wei and Huang Yaqi-hong (China) 1-2 (14-21 21-16 12-21) in the final match.
On the other hand, the Jeonyeong Open is a competition founded in 1899, and in badminton, it is a competition that is recognized for its authority following the Olympics, World Championships, and World Tour Finals. It is one of the ‘Super 1000’ competitions, the highest level of the World Badminton Federation (BWF) world tour. The total prize money for the 2023 Jeonyeong Open is 1.25 million dollars (about 1.63 billion won), and the winning prize is 87,500 dollars (about 115 million won) for singles and 92,500 dollars (about 120 million won) for doubles.
