Korean badminton is in trouble.
After being humiliated at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang with only a gold medal in every event, the team stunned the world with a gold smash in the women's team event for the first time in 29 years.
South Korea swept the women's badminton team event at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games with China 3-0 in the best-of-five series at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China on Monday (Feb. 1).
Korea got off to a strong start with a 2-0 (21-12, 21-13) win in the No. 1 singles match featuring world No. 1 Ahn Se-young (21-Samsung Life), before the No. 2 pair of Lee So-hee (Incheon International Airport) and Baek Ha-na (MG Saemaul Bank) defeated the No. 1 team of Chun Chin-chun and Zaifan 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) in the doubles match.
In the third game, Kim Ga-eun (25-Samsung Life) also secured a straight-sets victory, 2-0 (23-21, 21-17).
South Korea last won gold in the women's team event at the Asian Games in 1994 when badminton legend Suh Bang-hyun won the title.
The gold medal smash is all the more remarkable as South Korea did not win a single gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
It was a flawless performance. Ahn dominated the world No. 3 singles player, who has stood in her way at every major milestone along the way to Tokyo 2020.
It was a perfect revenge for her first Asian Games appearance at Jakarta-Palembang 2018, where she was knocked out of the singles round of 32 by Chen Yufei. Ahn had a 6-10 head-to-head record against Chen before this day. It was Chen Yufei who was once called her nemesis. 바카라사이트
However, Ahn's victory was a foregone conclusion. With her rapid improvement, she has won eight of the 12 international tournaments she competed in this year. With three runner-up finishes and one third-place finish, she is the reigning world champion. In August, she overtook Japan's Akane Yamaguchi to become the world No. 1, and she was already 6-2 against Chen Yufei this year.
Ahn played to her strengths throughout the match, using her physicality to her advantage, with fluid net play and piercing shots from all corners of the court.
The upset came next. The No. 2 doubles team of Lee Sohee and Baek Hana shut out the No. 1 team of Chen Qingcheng and Zhao Zifan. After the match, they said that even they didn't expect a 2-0 victory.
The highlight was game three. Kim is ranked 18th in the world and was objectively favored against the fifth-ranked He Bingzhao. He Bingzhao was the dominant player in the tournament, having won all four of her matches against Ahn Se-young until last year. This year, Ahn has been dominant with five straight wins, but she was a bit too much for Kim.
However, Kim had a great match. She had a difficult start to the first set, but she managed to break He Bingzhao's attacks repeatedly to take the lead. Of course, He Bingzhao was not to be denied. The first set ended at 20-20 deuce. After losing the lead once, Kim managed to tie it up again and then went on the attack to take the lead.
After taking a 13-9 lead in the second set, Kim faltered as He Bingjiao fought back to tie the game at 17-17, but she remained focused.