“It was a strategy… I had a bad knee. My knee hurt a lot while playing”

The ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance, 21) had strategy and the mental toughness to deal with injuries behind her two titles at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

The badminton team returned to South Korea at around 1 p.m. on Aug. 8 through Incheon International Airport Terminal 1. With two gold medals around her neck and a bright smile on her face, Ahn Seyoung bowed her head in gratitude to the fans who welcomed her home.

Korean badminton won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Hangzhou Games.

World No. 1 Ahn Se-young won two gold medals. She won gold in the team event against China and then took gold in the women’s individual event against her nemesis Chen Yufei (3rd, China). Rising to the top after battling injuries

Ahn had won gold in the women’s team final on the first day, defeating Chen Yuefei 2-0 (21-12 21-13). She then defeated Chen Yufei 2-1 (21-18 17-21 21-8) in the individual final on Sunday.

It is the first time in 29 years that Korean badminton has won the women’s singles title at an Asian Games since Hwang Su-hyun at the 1994 Hiroshima Games.

Ahn Se-young was left in tears after losing to Chen Yufei in the round of 32 at Jakarta-Palembang 2018. Since then, she has grown tremendously and got her revenge by knocking Chen Yufei to her knees in the return match.

In the first set of the individual final, Ahn faced a frightening injury. At 18-17, while defending, she grabbed her right knee in pain. The medical staff quickly rushed over to ice it, but Ahn grimaced as she bent and extended her knee. Nevertheless, she was back on her feet a few moments later and played on, scoring back-to-back points to take the first set 21-18.

Ahn started the second set with her knee taped and bandaged. However, the aftermath of her injury didn’t seem to affect her performance. She was shaky in her defense and went down 2-7, and went into the intermission down 5-11.

Ahn didn’t give up after that, but she struggled with her defensive movements that required her to bend her knees a lot. Chen Yufei was also consistently sending balls to the front of the net to exploit her weaknesses, and Ahn eventually dropped the second set at 17-21.

A fateful third set. Ahn bounced back, scoring five straight points as she harassed Chen Yufei with her tenacious defense and exquisite attack. Ahn went into the final interval with an 11-5 lead.

Net luck, which hadn’t been on Ahn’s side all match, started to catch up with her. A panicked Chen Yufei made mistake after mistake and conceded back-to-back points. Ahn extended her lead to 15-6. She went on to win the match in three sets.

At the airport, Ahn said, “I couldn’t be happier. This is a moment I’ve been dreaming about. I’m so happy to fulfill it one by one,” she said.

“In the first set, when I was doing my right jump, I felt pain in my knee as it was extending, and I realized that my knee was not good, so I called the medical staff,” she explained.

“I actually felt more relaxed after the injury,” he continued, “I was nervous in the first set, so my stroke wasn’t accurate, but after the injury, I felt more relaxed and comfortable. So I was able to concentrate on my strokes. I felt like it was going well, so that was good.” 메이저사이트

“I think I could have won the second set if I was more focused and played better, but that wasn’t my strategy. That’s why I gave up the second set. In some ways, it might be good to finish quickly, but I’m a player who shouldn’t be in a hurry, so instead of thinking about winning, I thought about hitting each ball with my senses,” she said.

“If I hadn’t been injured, I would have been more aggressive with my speed, but when I was injured, there was no way I could increase my speed. I was confident in my physical strength, so I tried to think of ways to extend the rallies and make my opponent run farther,” she said, explaining how she was able to overcome the injury crisis.

As for her current knee condition, Ahn said, “First of all, I need to get it checked quickly. There is no problem walking. I can run.” “But I couldn’t give up,” she said, adding that it was very painful during the match. “But I couldn’t give up. I had to rely on my mental strength,” he added.

At the 2018 Jakarta and Palembang Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ahn failed to break through Chen Yufei. But this time, it was a different story. “I was proud of myself for being able to beat Chen Yufei, who I always felt was a barrier, and win the title,” Ahn said, “and I felt that I could do it. I learned a lot from losing, and that’s what made me grow so well,” he encouraged.

In conclusion, he said, “When you dream, you can do it, and it’s exciting to see it come true, so you try harder. I’m also looking forward to Paris 2024. I’m looking forward to Paris 2024 because I’ve grown so much, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can grow in Paris. I’m excited.”