An amazing Se-young continues to rock world of badminton

PETALING JAYA: The pain of losing in the first round to Chinese nemesis Chen Yufei in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta was fresh in An Se-young’s memory and the South Korean was finally able to exact her revenge in warrior like fashion in Hangzhou.

Se-young was only 16 while Yufei, the 2016 world junior champion, had been progressing fast and had reached the semi-finals of the 2017 World Championships in Glasgow.

Yufei had beaten Se-young 21-15, 21-8 in Jakarta before going down in the quarter-finals.

Yufei went on to win the Tokyo Olympics crown in 2021 but fortunes had drastically changed as the 21-year-old Se-young has been in the form of her life this season.

Se-young’s moment of truth arrived at the Binjiang Gymnasium where the Korean played with a knee injury but battled heroically for 90 minutes to beat Yufei 21-18 17-21 21-8 and clinched gold.

“I’ve waited five years for this medal,” said an elated Se-young.

“I’ve trained and played with this pain but it was all worth it in the end.”

It was Se-young’s second gold in Hangzhou as she had also led South Korea to the team gold.

Se-young deserves to celebrate her success as she had emulated legendary Bang Soo-hyun’s exploits in the 1994 Hiroshima Games where she secured the women’s singles title and led Korea to the team crown.

“Both of us had a great performance today (Saturday), and we went all out,” said the 25-year-old Yufei after the match.

“I’ve lost many times recently. Maybe she was just a junior back then, and now she has grown up and improved a lot.”