Badminton men’s doubles world rankings No. 1 Seo Seung-jae (right) and Kim Won-ho. 2025.12.22/News1 ⓒ News1 Reporter Oh Dae-il
(Seoul = News 1) Reporter Lee Sang-cheol = World No. 1 badminton men’s doubles Seung-jae Seo and Won-ho Kim aim for their first win of the new year by reaching the finals of the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Malaysia Open.
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho defeated England’s Ben Lane and Sean Bendy (16th) 2-1 (8-21 21-11 21-18) in the men’s doubles semifinals of the tournament held at the Asiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 10th.
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, who tied the record for most wins in a single season with Ahn Se-young in women’s singles by combining for 11 wins last year, continued their success in the first competition of the new year and are just one win away from winning the title.
The process of earning a ticket to the finals was not easy.
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho gave up the early lead in the first game, falling behind by 3-10, and ultimately suffered a complete loss of 8-21.
However, they took the momentum by winning game 2 21-11. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho took the lead by winning 5 points at 6-5, and then scored 4 consecutive points at 17-11 to bring the game back to square one.
The last three games were fiercely contested. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, who were trailing at 1-5, pursued by accumulating points one by one, and turned the tide by scoring three consecutive points at 14-15.
Gaining momentum, the two gained a match point at 20-18 and experienced the thrill of victory.
Badminton women’s doubles Lee So-hee (right) and Baek Hana. 2025.12.22/News1 ⓒ News1 Reporter Oh Dae-il
In women’s doubles, Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, ranked 6th in the world, reached the final stage.
Baek Hana and Lee Sohee won 2-0 (21-16 21-12) over Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto (5th) in the semifinals.
Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, who did not have the honor of winning last year, defeated the Fukushima-Matsumoto group in the final of the World Tour Finals (King of Kings) on the 21st of last month and achieved their second consecutive victory in the tournament. And they defeated the Fukushima-Matsumoto group, which they met again in three weeks.
Baek Hana and Lee Sohee will compete against China’s Ryu Seongsu and Tanning (1st place) in the women’s doubles final for the championship trophy.
Jeong Na-eun and Lee Yeon-woo (19th), who reached the semifinals, lost 0-2 (8-21 17-21) against Ryu Seong-su and Tanning and were unable to advance to the finals.
Meanwhile, ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young easily won the right to advance to the finals in the women’s singles semifinals due to Chen Yu-fei’s (China, 4th place) ‘withdrawal’.
Seyoung Ahn will clash with Wang Zhiyi (China, 2nd place) in the women’s singles final.
Ahn Se-young met Wang Ziyi 20 times and showed a one-sided advantage with 16 wins and 4 losses, and won all eight times last year.
rok1954@news1.kr
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