World-class badminton players are withdrawing from the 2026 BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament in Odense, Denmark, following an exhausting schedule at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan. South Korea’s gold-medalist women’s doubles pair Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee pulled out of the event due to extreme fatigue, mirroring withdrawals by top Chinese competitors including Chen Yufei and Shi Yuqi. The absences validate prior public complaints from South Korean singles star An Se-young regarding grueling tournament scheduling that forced athletes to compete twice in a single day.
Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee Withdraw After 106-Minute Gold Medal Match
Fresh off a grueling 1-hour and 51-minute title match in Japan, South Korean women’s doubles world No. 2 Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee have officially withdrawn from the 2026 BWF Denmark Open. Reports from international sports media highlighted that the pair decided to skip the Odense tournament to recover from deep physical exhaustion. The decision comes just weeks after their hard-fought 2-1 comeback victory over China’s world No. 1 pair Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 29, 2026, which marked South Korea’s first Asian Games gold medal in the event in 24 years.
That final demanded an immense physical toll, featuring game lengths of 41, 28, and 37 minutes for a total duration of 106 minutes. At the final point, both South Korean players collapsed onto the court gasping for breath. Indonesian sports reporting noted that the victory did not erase the accumulated wear of a packed international calendar, leading directly to their withdrawal from the upcoming Super 750 event in Denmark.
Kim Ga-eun Injury Exposes The Strain of Two-Match Days
While Baek and Lee stepped back to rest, South Korean women’s singles second-ranker Kim Ga-eun was forced out of the Denmark Open entirely due to an injury sustained during the Asian Games. Kim injured her thigh during the team tournament, keeping her on the sidelines for the semifinal match against Japan. She attempted to continue in the individual bracket against China’s Wang Zhiyi, but the bout stretched past midnight due to a severely compressed match schedule.
The tournament format required singles players to contest both 32nd and 16th-round matches on the same day across morning and afternoon sessions, with some matches pushing past 2:00 a.m. local time. This extraordinary scheduling prompted South Korean singles star and world No. 1 An Se-young to voice sharp public criticism. Speaking about Kim’s situation, An stated that talking with her teammate made it clear that running two matches in a single day pushed athletes past safe limits and placed an unreasonable burden on competitors.
Global Defections Sweep the Denmark Open Entry List
The heavy toll of the Asian Games is not limited to the South Korean delegation. Chinese national team standouts have also pulled out of the Odense competition en masse. Chinese men’s singles star Shi Yuqi, who maintained the world No. 1 ranking for 52 weeks, dropped out of the Denmark Open after a recurrence of ongoing injuries. International reports indicate that Shi’s physical setbacks threaten to cut his 2026 season short, with potential missed appearances across several major autumn fixtures including the French Open, Arctic Open, Japan Open, and Hong Kong Open.
Additional high-profile withdrawals from the Denmark Open entry list include China’s women’s singles world No. 4 Chen Yufei, who aggravated a leg injury during the Asian Games, alongside women’s doubles silver medalists Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning, and world No. 4 pair Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian. Although the BWF Super 750 tournament mandates participation for world top-15 singles competitors, the physical exhaustion from the multi-sport regional games in Japan forced widespread absences across multiple national federations.
An Se-young Prepares to Compete in Odense
Despite the exodus of top-tier talent from the tournament draw, South Korea’s reigning world No. 1 and Asian Games singles champion An Se-young remains on the entry list for the Odense event. Having secured consecutive singles titles at the regional games, An is set to travel to Denmark and participate as scheduled, avoiding the late-stage withdrawal path taken by her exhausted peers.
