South Korean women’s badminton standout Ahn Se-young 안세영 (Samsung Life Insurance) has won the Korea Open Badminton Championships for the second consecutive year.
Ahn defeated world No. 4 Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei) 2-0 (21-9 21-15) in the women’s singles final at Jinnam Gymnasium in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, on March 23.
Ahn brought the women’s singles title back to South Korea for the first time in seven years at last year’s tournament.
It has been 29 years since a South Korean player won back-to-back women’s singles titles, with Hwang Soo-hyun winning in 1993 and 1994. Hwang also won the title in 1996.
It has been 22 years since Camilla Martin (DEN) won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.
This was Ahn’s sixth gold medal in international competition this year.
Ahn took the first set with ease, sending Tai Tzu Ying back and forth.
She looked much more comfortable on the court than the day before, winning an in-and-out challenge at 1-1.
Ahn scored five consecutive points to go up 10-3, and Tai Ziying committed a series of unforced errors.
With the win in hand, Ahn felt comfortable in the second set.
At 10-5, Ahn landed a bold diagonal attack to take a comfortable lead into the break.
At 12-5, she spun around when a shuttle was hit to the left of the back of her head and used her wrist strength to get a backhand winner.
At 20-15, Ahn sealed the win with a powerful push attack.
It was a dominant victory that ended in 38 minutes. Ahn improved her record against Tai Zhiying to 7-2.
World No. 3 Kim So-young (Incheon International Airport) and Gong Hee-yong (Jeonbuk Bank) lost 1-2 (10-21 21-17 7-21) to world No. 1 Chen Qing-tian and Zhai Fan (China) in the women’s doubles final of the day.
After dropping the first set in double points, Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong regrouped in the second set.
With a better swing than in the first set, they were able to sustain long rallies and capitalize on their opponents’ mistakes.
At 15-13, the Chinese attack found the net and gave them their first three-point lead of the day.
At 17-15, after a long rally that saw 38 shots exchanged, Zhai Fan’s clearance was met with a powerful smash by Kim So-young.
After saving a set point with an unforced error, the Korean team took the match to a third set with an attack from Gong Hee-yong.
The third set, however, played out similarly to the first.
Starting with an attack error at 3-5, the Koreans scored six consecutive points and went into the break trailing by eight.
Even with strong swings, they were often counterattacked by the Chinese team.
She was unable to find a foothold and lost the third set by 14 points. 토토