In the moment of victory, Ahn Se-young, 21, dropped her racket and roared. She also pumped her fists. She is now just one match away from winning South Korea's first badminton women's singles gold medal at the Asian Games in 29 years.
Ahn Se-young defeated He Bingjiao (26-World No. 5) of China 2-0 (21:10/21:13) in the women's badminton singles quarterfinals at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Saturday to advance to the final.
He Bingjiao never led Ahn by more than two points, except in the first game, when she scored back-to-back points to take a two-point lead.
Ahn used her strong defense and accurate strokes to force her opponent into errors.
After struggling against He Bingjiao last year, losing four out of four, Ahn has won all five of their meetings this year.
She continued her momentum in today's match, winning their sixth meeting. 카지노사이트
Ahn remained calm throughout. He Bingjiao never led by more than two points, except in game one when she scored back-to-back points to take a two-point lead.
Ahn used her strong defense and accurate strokes to force her opponent into mistakes.
After struggling against He Bingzhao last year, losing four out of four, Ahn has won all five of their meetings this year. She continued her momentum in today's match, winning their sixth meeting.
Ahn's rise to prominence has been frightening. Ranked No. 4 at the start of the year, she moved up to No. 1 in August and was in dominant form at the tournament, dropping no games in both the team and singles events.
Ahn will play the final at 3 p.m. on Sunday. She will be attempting to become the first Korean to win a women's singles gold medal in 29 years, since Hwang Soo-hyun won in Hiroshima in 1994. Her opponent will be the winner of the quarterfinal match between Japan's Aya Ohori (27-World No. 20) and China's Chen Yufei (25-World No. 3), with Chen Yufei likely to advance to the final.
Ahn defeated Chen Yufei 2-0 in the team event final.
"It's a dream come true, and I'm so happy to be one step closer to my dream," Ahn said after the match, adding, "I'm going to enjoy tomorrow's match and play with excitement."
Earlier in the day, Seo Seung-jae (26) and Chae Yoo-jung (28) had to settle for a bronze medal in their mixed doubles semifinal match against China's Zheng Zhiwei (26) and Huang Ya-chung (29), with a game score of 1-2 (21:13/15:21/16:21).