Ahn Se-young finished runner-up in the first international competition since the Danish Open, Wang Zui
Oct 20, 2024
|
World No. 2 Ahn Se-young was completely defeated by China's Wang Zhiyi (10-21, 12-21) in the women's singles final of the '2024 Danish Open (Super 750)" in Odense, Denmark, on the 20th.
This was the first international stage in more than two months since Ahn Se-young won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics in August.
The right knee injury has not fully recovered, so he participated in the competition to check his performance, but Ahn Se-young cruised to the semifinals and raised expectations.
However, while world No. 1 Chen Yufei (China), who has been on a long break since the Paris Olympics, Wang Zhiyi, who is emerging as China's No. 1 player, was never easy to deal with.
In the meantime, Ahn Se-young had an overwhelming advantage with 8 wins and 2 losses, but Wang Zi overwhelmed Ahn in the final.
Like the round of 16 and quarterfinals, Ahn Se-young got off to a shaky start in one game. Ahn Se-young, who failed to get a head start early in the game, was dragged around the whole time without ever having a chance to tie the game. Not only did he fall behind the opponent in the speed of defensive response, but he also made mistakes that he did not usually do.
In the end, Ahn Se-young, who was virtually defeated 10-21, tried to take a chance to fight back in two games, but Wang Zhi's momentum was not strong. Ahn Se-young, who boasted the strongest record in the world with consecutive come-from-behind wins in the round of 16 and quarterfinals, did not give a break, as Wang Zhi meticulously analyzed the game.
Even if Ahn Se-young couldn't chase Wang Zui's diagonal smash in a situation where he was pushed 8-11, the victory seemed to have already declined. Since then, Wang Zhi has freely used left and right attacks and scored seven consecutive points.
After inducing Wang Zhi's error, Ahn Se-young fought back with four consecutive points, but the score was already 12-19, which was not enough to make a dramatic turnaround.
Meanwhile, Korean badminton finished the tournament with two bronze medals, including Ahn Se-young's silver medal, women's doubles Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee and mixed doubles Kim Won-ho and Jung Na-eun.
cms@sportschosun.com
