World No. 1 An Se-young advanced to the women’s singles final in badminton at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, securing South Korea’s first medal in her event in 28 years.
An defeated Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia 2-1 (11-21, 21-13, 21-16) in the semifinals at La Chapelle Arena in Paris to book a spot in the final.
An, the 2023 world champion, has secured at least the silver medal in Paris. It will be South Korea’s first medal in the women’s singles since Bang Soo-hyun’s gold in 1996.
In Monday’s final, An will meet the winner of the other semifinal match between He Bingjiao of China and Carolina Marin of Spain, the 2016 Olympic women’s singles champion.
An defeated Marin, world No. 4, in the final of the 2023 world championships and has beaten her in six of their 10 meetings.
An has an 8-5 edge over He, world No. 9 who upset the second-ranked player from China, Chen Yufei, in the quarterfinals in Paris.
An never got it going in the first game against Tunjung, allowing her opponent to dictate the
match with a series of well-placed winners and smart shots that forced An to make uncharacteristic mistakes. Tunjung scored the first four points of the game and An never once led in dropping the frame 21-11.
An had defeated Tunjung in all seven of their previous meetings without losing the first game in any of them.
An turned the table in the second game, demonstrating the kind of shotmaking skills that make her a strong gold medal threat in Paris.
An went up 3-1 in the second frame and never trailed the rest of that game. She closed off the game by scoring the final five points, as Tunjung kept missing shots that she’d made in the first game.
An kept up the momentum by going up 4-0 at the onset of the third game and leading by as much as 12-3.
Tunjung fought back to make it a 16-13 game but An responded by winning the next four points and closing out the game and the match at 21-16.
An had also dropped the first game before rallying to win the next two and outdueling her opponent in the semifinal win
over Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on Saturday.
Source: Yonhap News Agency