Korean badminton, which aimed to recapture the World Badminton Federation (BWF) Sudirman Cup trophy six years after winning in 2017, was unable to cross the Great Wall.
The Korean badminton team lost 0-3 to China in the final of the BWF 2023 World Mixed Team Championship held at the Olympic Sports Center in Suzhou, China on the 21st.
The biennial Sudirman Cup is a mixed badminton team championship. South Korea beat China 3-2 in 2017 to rise to the top for the fourth time in its career. In 2019, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals, and in 2021, they lost to China in the semifinals.
This year, Korea, which has a stronger history, took first place in Group D by defeating ‘old enemy’ Japan 5-0 in the group stage. Korea, which reached the final by defeating Taiwan in the quarterfinals and Malaysia in the semifinals, faced China, the host country and the ‘world’s strongest’.
Matches will be played in the order of mixed doubles – men’s singles – women’s singles – men’s doubles – women’s doubles. Seo Seung-jae (Army Sports Corps) and Chae Yoo-jeong (Incheon International Airport), ranked 5th in the mixed doubles world, took the first set against world No. 1 Jeong Si-wei and Hwang Ya-chung. Also, in the second set, he led 19-16 and was close to winning. However, after giving away the second set 20-22, the third set was also taken away and unfortunately came from behind.\
Korea, which gave up the mixed doubles with victory just around the corner, lost even Lee Yoon-gyu (Gimcheon City Hall) in the men’s singles. Ahn Se-yeong (Samsung Life Insurance), a Korean women’s badminton signboard she trusted, also failed to ‘conquer the Great Wall’ by kneeling down to ‘natural enemy’ Chen Yu-fei.
The mixed doubles loss was disappointing. Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jeong lost to the world No.
Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jeong, who succeeded in overcoming the baseline by winning the first set, scored three points in a row in the second set, 16-16. With Chae Yoo-jung’s stable net play and Seo Seung-jae’s surprise attack, Korea seized the opportunity to bring mixed doubles.
However, they allowed a 19-19 tie in this situation. South Korea reached 20 points first thanks to Seo Seung-jae’s offensive goal. However, Chae Yoo-jung’s fatal receiving error came out. China’s strategy, which shook Korea’s receive with a sharp serve at the end of the second set, worked well. Even Seo Seung-jae made a receive error and gave the second set 20-22.
After escaping from the edge of the cliff, Zheng Si-wei and Hwang Ya-chung Joe took the second set and gained momentum. On the other hand, Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung were shaken sharply in the third set. Zheng Si-wei and Huang Ya-chung, who took the lead in the game, took the third set and China took a 1-0 lead.
In the men’s singles that followed, Lee Yun-kyu started. Against the world’s 10th ranked switch, Lee Yun-gyu did well, but lost 0-2 (13-21 17-21).
With Korea trailing 0-2, Ahn Se-young stood on the court. In the women’s singles, Ahn Se-young, who entered the game with a heavy responsibility to win, met Chen Yu-fei.
Prior to this match, Chen Yufei had the upper hand with 8 wins and 4 losses. However, Ahn Se-young won all three matches this year. In particular, in the final match of the Jeonyoung Open in March, he defeated Chen Yu-Fei and became the first Korean player to win the championship in 27 years.
However, Chen Yu-Fei, who inherited the momentum of his teammates who won earlier, overpowered Ahn Se-young with a sharp attack. Ahn Se-young lost to Chen Yu-fei 0-2 (16-21 20-22), and the ‘undefeated march’ of this tournament came to an end.
Ahn Se-young won 2-0 (21-11 21-15) against world No. 1 Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) in the third match of the group stage. She also defeated World No. 3 Tai Ziying (Taiwan) 2-0 (21-13 22-20) in the quarterfinals.
Ahn Se-young, who ran two consecutive victories in women’s badminton’s ‘big four’ matches, met her last remaining opponent, Chen Yu-fei. However, she was unable to carry the momentum of beating Yamaguchi and Tai Ziying into the finals.
Chen Yufei broke through Ahn Se-young’s ‘net defense’ with a more diversified attack. Ahn Se-young, who was pushed by Chen Yu-fei’s momentum throughout the first set, gave up the set 16-21.먹튀검증
Ahn Se-young, who started a counterattack, played an even match up to 9-9. However, with consecutive mistakes, Chen Yufei surpassed 10 points first. Ahn Se-young, who went in pursuit, overturned the charter 13-12 by inducing her opponent to make a mistake. However, her rise was not followed and she made a series of errors that allowed her to turn around again.
Ahn Se-young, who trailed 16-19, made a 20-20 tie by persistently biting and hanging. However, she was unable to turn the game around in the end and Korea finished as runner-up.