Women’s singles world No. 1 Ahn Se-young (21, Samsung Life Insurance), women’s doubles world No. 2 Lee So-hee (29, Incheon International Airport), Baek Ha-na (23, MG Saemaul Geumgo), and mixed doubles world No. 5 Seo Seung-jae (26, Samsung Life Insurance) and Chae Yoo-jung (28, Incheon International Airport).
Ahn Se-young will compete with Akane Yamaguchi (26, Japan), the world’s second-ranked player, in the women’s singles final of the 2023 China Open, the World Badminton Federation (BWF) Super 1000 series, at the Olympic Sports Center in Changzhou, China, on the 10th.
Ahn Se-young settled in the final with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) victory over fourth-place Taiziying (29, Taiwan) in the semifinals the previous day. Ahn Se-young had five clashes with Yamaguchi Akane this year, recording three wins and two losses. He is inferior in the record of 8 wins and 12 losses.
The most recent showdown between the two is that Ahn Se-young met Yamaguchi in the Singapore Open final on June 11 and won 2-0 (21-16, 21-14). If Ahn Se-young catches Yamaguchi, he will win his ninth gold medal this season. After winning the Korea Open, Japan Open and Copenhagen World Championships in June, he will also win four consecutive tournaments.
Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na will compete for the gold medal with Chen Qingchen (26) and Jiaipan (26) of China, the world’s No. 1 player. It’s two wins and two losses. Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na won 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) in the quarterfinals of the Indonesian Open on June 16 and even won the championship.
Earlier, in the Singapore Open final on June 11, the two groups met and Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na lost 0-2 (16-21, 12-21) and were satisfied with the runner-up. The game is unpredictable again. Since winning the Indonesian Open, Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na have been sluggish in the Korea Open (quarterfinals), Japan Open (quarterfinals), and world championships (round of 16), so they desperately need a gold medal.
Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung, the mixed doubles champions at the Copenhagen World Championships last month, are likely to win a gold medal in the final against Tom Zickel-Delphine Delou of France, who is ranked eighth.
Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung gained momentum in the quarterfinals by beating the world’s No. 1 player, Zheng Zhiwei and Huang Ya-chiong of China, 2-1 (17-21, 21-13, 21-17). At the Copenhagen World Championships, the two groups also met in the final, and Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung won the gold medal. Starting with mixed doubles at 2 p.m. (Korea Standard Time), the final of the China Open will be held in the order of women’s doubles, women’s singles, men’s singles, and men’s doubles.
By:안전놀이터
