(Xports News Reporter Kim Hyun-ki) ‘Empress’ Ahn Se-young was left off the list again.
While Korean women’s badminton is cruising at the 6th Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships being held in Qingdao, China, ace Ahn Se-young, world number one in women’s singles, will miss the semifinals.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) announced in the early morning of the 7th the semi-final entries for the tournament to be held at the Conson Gymnasium in Qingdao, China at 11 a.m. on the 7th (Korean time).
Ahn Se-young is missing from this list. Korea will clash with Indonesia, a Southeast Asian badminton powerhouse, in the semifinals.
Korea will nominate Kim Ga-eun, ranked 17th in the world in women’s singles, as the first singles runner in the match against Indonesia. Ga-eun Kim will clash with Talitha Ramadani Urjawan, ranked 67th in the world.
In the first doubles, the pair of Baek Ha-na and Kim Hye-jeong, who are causing a sensation in this tournament, will be used. Korean badminton has a ‘one-two punch’ in the women’s doubles pair of Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee (world’s 3rd) and Kong Hee-yong and Kim Hye-jung (world’s 5th).
However, as it was revealed that Sohee Lee was injured during this tournament, Baek Hana and Kim Hyejeong came together to form a surprise duo. Surprisingly, they worked well together and overwhelmed their opponents in the second match against Taiwan in the group stage and against Malaysia in the quarterfinals. The pair of Baek Hana and Kim Hye-jeong will clash with Rachel Alesha Rose and Pedi Setiaringnum (world No. 36).
In the second singles, world number 70 Park Ga-eun, who is said to be the discovery of the Korean women’s national team in this tournament, will appear. His opponent will be Kathek Dinda Pratiwi, ranked 77th in the world. The pair of Lee Yeon-woo and Lee Seo-jin will appear in the second doubles, and Kim Min-ji will appear in the third singles.
Ahn Se-young missed the first match against Singapore in the group stage of this tournament. Since the skill gap between Korea and Singapore was so great, there was no reason for Ahn Se-young to participate.
Afterwards, he appeared two days in a row against Taiwan and Malaysia and won 2-0. The semifinals are closed. They advanced to the semifinals, but looking at the skills of Indonesia’s women’s singles players, the national team’s coaching staff appears to have calculated that they had a good chance of winning even without Ahn Se-young.
Se-young Ahn will rest for a day and prepare for the finals to be held on the 8th. The winner of China-Taiwan will advance to the finals, but there is a high probability that they will face China.
Ahn Se-young has won numerous international competitions, including the Olympics, World Championships, and Asian Games, but has never reached the top at the Asian Team Championships. In 2018, he competed at the age of 16, but won a bronze medal with senior members of the national team. In 2020, he won a silver medal. It did not participate in 2022, and did not participate in 2024 as the entire women’s national team had already won a ticket to the World Women’s Team Championship (Uber Cup), which is awarded to the semifinals of this competition.
Ahn Se-young, who celebrated her birthday on the 5th, plans to make a great birthday present by lifting the championship cup.
Photo = Yonhap News
Reporter Kim Hyun-ki spitfire@xportsnews.com
