2 wins up to '金' An Se-young 'World's No. 1' 日야마 2-1 thrilling come-from-behind victory over Yamaguchi 진출 ' 강' 올림픽짜릿한 2승 이제역전-에 21 '1, 까지안'승 세계위구치

Aug 03, 2024

The badminton women's singles quarterfinal match between South Korea An Se-young and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi was held at the Port de la Chappelle Arena in Paris, France on the 3rd (Korea time). Ahn Se-young is attacking. Paris (France) = Reporter Chung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.3/

The badminton women's singles quarterfinal match between South Korea An Se-young and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi was held at the Port de la Chappelle Arena in Paris, France on the 3rd (Korea time). An Se-young is asking for a challenge. Paris (France) = Reporter Chung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.3/

'Shuttlecock Queen' Ahn Se-young (22, Samsung Life Insurance) has made it to the semifinals.

Ahn Se-young came from behind to beat Akane Yamaguchi (15-21 21-17 21-8) of Japan in the quarterfinals of the women's singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at Port Drachapel Stadium in Paris, France on the 3rd (Korea time). Ahn Se-young won a ticket to the semifinals and only had two wins left until the gold medal. Ahn Se-young was eliminated from the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Games, losing to Chen Yufei (China), the then No. 1 seed, as the youngest member of the badminton team.

Ahn Se-young is the last hope of Korean badminton. From the 2012 London Games to the 2021 Tokyo Games, South Korea's badminton team aimed for the best record ever at the event, with a record of only three consecutive Olympics. He challenged for three gold medals at maximum. Unfortunately, however, he only harvested one silver medal in the mixed doubles. Unfortunately, the men's doubles remained in fourth place, and the women's doubles all stopped their journey in the quarterfinals.

Ahn is currently No. 1 in women's singles at the Badminton World Federation (BWF). He is the world's top ranker who has appeared for the first time in 27 years since Bae Soo-hyun. Ahn Se-young won two gold medals in the women's individual and team events at the last Hangzhou Asian Games with a different level of performance. There was also a medal. He suffered from aftereffects for a while due to a right knee injury suffered in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Ahn Se-young, who focused on rehabilitation, fortunately recovered quickly. Expectations for the Olympic gold medal were raised by winning and finishing second place in the recent Singapore Open and Indonesia Open, respectively.

The first game was a bit of a struggle. On the 28th, he beat 74th-ranked Koviyana Nalvantova of Bulgaria 2-0 in the world. The content was not very good. Ahn Se-young, who couldn't play after the Indonesian Open final seven weeks ago, seemed to have a hard time finding a real sense. Frequent mistakes prevented the gap from widening. Fortunately, in the second game, he scored zero and showed off his original skills. He recovered the sharpness of his stroke and won a great victory.

After the game, Ahn Se-young `was very nervous and wandered around a lot. I'm ashamed that I can't show 70% of my skills. "I'll make it better and better." My eyes became moist as I felt mixed emotions on the Olympic stage, which I stepped back on in three years. Ahn Se-young said "I don't know what this feeling is. He said, `I hope this is a good stimulus.'

He played his part in the second game. Ahn Se-young, who gave up the first point in the first set, immediately turned the game around 4-1. In a 5-2 situation, he scored with an exquisite hairpin. The in-and-out judgments, which were disappointing in the first game, were also accurate. He kept pushing the opponent under pressure, widening the score gap. They led by 15–4. The home team fans cheered, but Ahn Se-young was not shaken. Showing the difference in skills, he took the first set in 21-5 and 14 minutes.

In the second set, Ahn Se-young's stroke became sharper. After winning the first point, he scored five points to take a 5-0 lead. 7-4, when the opponent's pursuit was increasing, the atmosphere was brought back with a nice diagonal shot. led 11–4. It was a dead end. I kept adding points. The opponent was tied at four points until Ahn Se-young scored 16 points. The opponent added a little more points, but Ahn Se-young accumulated the points faster. In the end, he even brought in the second set with a score of 21-7 to seal the victory.

Ahn Se-young confirmed her advance to the quarterfinals by winning the group. A total of 39 players will participate in the women's singles in this tournament, with 13 groups of three from each group. The first place in each group will advance to the round of 16. Ahn Se-young, the No. 1 seed, did not play in the round of 16, but immediately reached the quarterfinals tournament, confirming her advance to the quarterfinals early on.

The badminton women's singles quarterfinal match between South Korea An Se-young and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi was held at the Port de la Chappelle Arena in Paris, France on the 3rd (Korea time). Ahn Se-young is disappointed with the loss. Paris (France) = Reporter Chung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.3/

Yamaguchi was the opponent of the quarterfinals. Yamaguchi is Sufani in the round of 16 on the 2nd Beat Cateton (21-6, 21-13) by a score of 2-0. Yamaguchi is a tough opponent. Yamaguchi is a player who remained at the top until An Se-young reached the top of the world ranking. However, he lost his skills due to a foot injury last year, and he dreamed of a revival at the Paris Olympics.

At the beginning of the first set, he gave up the lead after giving up the first point. He was dragged away by two points. He was caught in the net several times and his sense of shot did not come up. The gap was 3-7. We exchanged points by four points. Yamaguchi ran away when Ahn Se-young chased him. Ahn Se-young began to cheer up in the middle. I chased him to 9-10. However, the stroke sent toward the end line continued to be out and scored again. Chasing to 13-14 on the back of an opponent's error. But he couldn't get over the hump. The attack continued to fail, reaching 14-19. In the end, he got off to a shaky start, giving up the first set 15-21.

The situation was similar in the second set. Mistakes, in- and out-judgment errors overlapped to give up the early lead. Chased to 3-4 with an exquisite diagonal shot. The attack came to life. tied with a delightful smash. They turned the game around 6-5. Ahn took the lead to 8-5 with back-to-back points. A sharp attack continued and set the tone properly. They widened the score to 12-7. At 13-8, it was a bit of a shame that a nice diagonal attack was judged to be the end of the challenge. Yamaguchi seemed to be chasing, but Ahn Se-young changed the mood with consecutive points again. At the end, Yamaguchi chased after him with good net play. Followed by 17-16. However, Ahn Se-young soon broke the flow by showing the world's No. 1 play. 20-17, sealed the win with a nice drop shot at set point.

The badminton women's singles quarterfinal match between South Korea An Se-young and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi was held at the Port de la Chappelle Arena in Paris, France on the 3rd (Korea time). Paris (France) = Reporter Chung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.3/

In the last three sets, Ahn Se-young scored the first point. Ahn Se-young gained momentum by successfully attacking diagonally in a 2-1 rally situation. He led 5-1 in the lead. He kept widening the score. As time passed, Ahn Se-young's play came to life. Unfortunately, the challenge failed at 7-3, but soon scored again with a great attack. In the end, he stepped on the 11-point mark first. The opponent was clearly exhausted. Ahn continued to play without hesitation. They widened the score to 15-6. The opponent came after him, but he succeeded in 16 points after a long rally, making a 16-8 double score, effectively deciding the game. Ahn, who reached the match point at 19-8, eventually won.

vanbasten@sportschosun.com

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