(Xports News Reporter Kim Hyun-ki) ‘Badminton Goddess’ Chae Yu-jeong, who suddenly announced her retirement last fall, is planning a new life in China.
This is because they joined hands with Zheng Siwei, a world-renowned doubles expert from China.
‘Victor Z Swing Academy’, run by Jeong Swei, announced on the 1st (Korean time) that Chae Yu-jeong had joined as coach. Zheng Shiwei teamed up with female player Huang Ya-chong to win a silver medal in mixed doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics (actually held in 2021) and a gold medal at the next event, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
He won the world championship three times. At the 2023 World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, they also won a silver medal after losing to the pair of Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong. Zheng Shiwei retired at the end of last year.
On the 1st, Southeast Asian media such as Thai media ‘Badminton Blabla’ analyzed that “Chae Yu-jeong seems to be transforming into a coach who trains China’s national team players at Zheng Shiwei Academy.”
Chae Yu-jeong previously held a retirement ceremony at the Korea Masters (Super 300) held in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do on November 9th last year and ended her active life.
Recently, the female mixed doubles player representing Korean badminton broke the hearts of badminton fans by announcing that she had decided to retire due to the burden of having to play the national team selection match again as a women’s doubles player.
He expressed his intention to retire after being eliminated in the first round of the mixed doubles at the French Open in October of last year, saying, “It was something I had been thinking about this year. Because the national team selection match is in the mixed doubles event, so there is no selection match itself, so then I would have to compete in the women’s doubles match, but I have been competing as a mixed doubles player for a long time to do that.” “I decided to give up,” he added.
According to the Korea Badminton Association’s regulations, players who are not ranked 1st to 15th in the world rankings must retake the national team selection at the end of the year, whether in singles or doubles. This seems to have been a burden for Chae Yu-jeong, who was ranked 20th to 30th in the mixed doubles world rankings last year. Now that he is 31 years old, he seems to have decided to retire.
Accordingly, coach Park Joo-bong, who took office as the badminton team’s head coach last spring, expressed regret over Chae Yu-jeong’s retirement and promised to improve the system, saying, “We will actively consider creating a separate mixed doubles representative selection match.”
After announcing her retirement, Chae Yu-jeong also announced her closeness with Chinese figures by watching the Chinese Super League and attending Huang Ya-chong’s wedding as a guest. In fact, he is said to be very close to Ahn Se-young’s biggest rival, Chen Yu-fei.
Some Chinese media even expressed the opinion that “Korea’s badminton goddess has suddenly retired” and “Is there a way for China to embrace her?”
It appears that he eventually moved to China and planned a new life.
Photo = Chae Yoo-jeong SNS
Reporter Kim Hyun-ki spitfire@xportsnews.com
