(Milyang = Yonhap News) Reporter Seol Ha-eun = “Let’s win! Focus!”
The 105th National Sports Festival badminton match was held at Miryang Badminton Stadium in Gyeongnam on the 10th.
The last match, the men’s general team quarterfinal match between Busan (Samsung Life Insurance) and Gyeongnam (Milyang City Hall), was taking place on Court 1 in one corner of the stadium.
In the stands right next to the court, a woman wearing a black hijab took a video with her hands and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Let’s win! Samsung (Life)!” in Korean.
It was Aya (31), a K-badminton fan who flew in from Indonesia.
Aya, who works in marketing, came to Korea on the 9th, taking advantage of her vacation and work-from-home system, to watch the badminton match at the National Sports Festival. He is said to be scheduled to return to Indonesia on the 14th.
Aya took her seat at the stadium from 4 PM on this day to support Samsung Life Insurance, which includes 2024 Paris Olympics silver medalist Kim Won-ho, Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk, who competed with the Taegeuk symbol at the Paris Olympics.
When Busan (Samsung Life Insurance) lost the first and second games to Gyeongnam (Milyang City Hall) and was on the verge of defeat, Aya cried, saying, “What if I lose? No, I’m sad.” And when Kim Won-ho made a mistake in the third game, he made a bigger mistake than anyone else. He gave strength by shouting in his voice, “Wonho! Concentrate!”
When Samsung Life’s shot hit the net, Aya held her head in pain and took off her glasses.
It had already been about 5 hours since she entered the stadium, so she might have been tired, but Aya’s voice grew even louder as Samsung Life Insurance’s Heo Kwang-hee fiercely pushed her opponent in the 5th game, bringing a major upset victory close to her eyes.
Aya said that she became attracted to Kang Min-hyuk while watching a badminton match on TV by chance in 2012.
And naturally, my eyes went to Kim Won-ho, Kang Min-hyuk’s doubles partner.
“I searched hard, thinking, ‘Wow, who is that person?’ After that, I looked up all the matches between Kang Min-hyuk and Kim Won-ho on YouTube, etc.,” said Aya, who visited Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, I traveled to various countries, including Korea (Korea Open, National Sports Festival).
Aya said, “I relieve stress by watching badminton. Watching Samsung Life Insurance players play gives me strength and also refreshes me when I am tired from everyday life.”
He said that Kim Won-ho, Kang Min-hyuk, and Seo Seung-jae’s good looks were one of the reasons he liked them, but he kept the real reason a secret, saying there was another reason.
It is said that in the first match of the Paris Olympics mixed doubles group preliminaries between Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun and Indonesia’s Rinove Rivaldi and Pita Haningtjas Mentari, they cheered for Korea more than their own country.
Aya expressed her pride, saying, “I shouted ‘Korea Fighting!’ People around me asked me why I was rooting for Korea when I should be rooting for Indonesia, but despite that, I steadfastly said ‘Korea’.”
Aya, who taught herself Korean through Korean dramas and K-pop, also takes on the role of an evangelist to promote K-badminton overseas.
It is said that if various interview videos uploaded to YouTube, etc. are individually reprocessed with English subtitles and uploaded to social media (SNS) such as TikTok, a large number of overseas fans will come in.
Aya said that Korean badminton players, such as Kim Won-ho, are much more popular in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, than in Korea.
Aya said, “Korean players are really nice. In particular, Kim Won-ho accepts every request for an autograph or photo. I have never seen him refuse even once,” and said that he is always impressed by fan service.
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2024/10/11 08:01 Sent