Ahn Se-young (21) and Seo Seung-jae (26, Samsung Life Insurance) were selected as ‘Players of the Year’ by the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
Ahn Se-young and Seo Seung-jae received the Female Athlete of the Year and Male Athlete of the Year awards, respectively, at the BWF Awards Ceremony held in Hangzhou, China on the 11th.
During the International Badminton Federation (IBF), men and women were combined to select the ‘Player of the Year’ and the Eddie Chong Award was awarded, named after Malaysian badminton legend Eddie Chong. Korean players include Kim Dong-moon in 2002 and world No. 1 in mixed doubles in 2003. Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min shared the award.
After converting to BWF, awards have been divided into men’s and women’s categories since 2008. Ahn Se-young and Seo Seung-jae are the first Korean players to receive the award. In 2011, Lee Yong-jae and Jeong Jae-seong, who were the world’s best men’s doubles, were nominated in the men’s category, but were defeated by Lee Chong-wei (Malaysia), who was the best singles player at the time, and did not win the award. After Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min, Ahn Se-young and Seo Seung-jae are the first and only Korean players to be selected as ‘Player of the Year’ by the international federation representing badminton. Korean badminton, which achieved its best ever performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games, once again confirmed that it has reached its peak again through this joint award for both men and women.
Seyoung Ahn had a monumental season this year. He participated in 16 competitions during the evaluation period from November of last year to October of this year and won 11 times. She swept the biggest tournaments, including the All England Open, the World Championships, and the Hangzhou Asian Games, and became the first Korean player to be ranked No. 1 in the women’s singles world rankings 27 years after Bang Bang-hyun.
At the awards ceremony, Ahn Se-young said, “It was a difficult year, but I think it was the perfect ending. “It couldn’t be better than this,” she said, adding, “I believe I can achieve more because I’m still young,” and she pledged to make further leaps in the future.
Seo Seung-jae performed well in both mixed doubles and men’s doubles and was selected as the male athlete of the year.
He is ranked 3rd in the world in mixed doubles with Chae Yu-jeong (Incheon International Airport), and 6th in the world in men’s doubles with Min-hyuk Kang (Samsung Life Insurance). He was runner-up in mixed doubles at the All England Open in March, won both men’s doubles and mixed doubles at the World Championships last August, and won a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Like Lee Yong-dae, who has been the representative face of Korean badminton since the late 2000s, Seo Seung-jae, who is showing great performance in two doubles events, has established himself as the clear face of Korean men’s badminton by winning this award, which even Lee Yong-dae never received.
Seo Seung-jae said, “This is an achievement achieved not only by me but also with my partners. He didn’t perform well on the big stage before, but that has changed now. Thank you to the fans who supported us. “I will continue to do my best,” he said.
2023-12-12 05:26:17
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