Se-young Takes the Women’ Singles Title at the Asian Games 2023 After Winning Three Gold Medals in Hangzhou – Complete Results.
An defeated Olympic champion Chen Yufei to add to her team gold with Li Shifeng winning
the men’s singles final after Rankireddy/Shetty claimed India’s first Asian Games badminton title.
The People’s Republic of China won three golds on the final day of badminton at
the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou with An Se-young overcoming knee pain to deny the hosts a fourth on Saturday (7 October).
The reigning world champion repeated her victory over Olympic gold medallist
Chen Yufei in Sunday’s team final, winning 21-18, 17-21, 21-8 to claim her second gold in Hangzhou.
There was nothing to choose between the pair early on, but An edged ahead after the first mid-game interval.
Chen closed to 17-18, but the Republic of Korea star won the next two points
before converting her second game point opportunity.
The home favourite came out firing at the start of the second with An later admitting
to suffering pain in her knee, racing out into a 7-2 lead before taking an 11-5 advantage into the break.
The world number one managed to reduce the gap to two but Chen stayed in
front and, roared on by the home crowd, took the second game 21-17 to force the only decider on finals day.
However, the Korean forced the pace in the third game, leading 7-2 before going 11-5 in front at the changeover.
The end came quickly as An conceded just three more points to seal her
second gold in Hangzhou in exactly an hour and a half.
She said afterwards, “Even though I won the first game, my knee was
already hurting. For the second game, my coach told me to not move too
much but it gave me time to recover from the worst of the pain.
“By the third game, I knew I could do it and kept a steady attack on my opponent.”
An added, “I couldn’t be happier. It’s taken me five years of preparation to be here.
I have been training with this knee pain and now I’m playing with this knee pain, but it was all worth it in the end.”
Earlier, Li Shifeng cemented his reputation as a man for the big occasion by
defeating Chinese teammate Shi Yuqi 23-21, 21-13 to take the men’s singles title.
Having been a surprise winner of March’s All England Open, eighth seed Li won
this tournament without dropping a game having beaten top seed Anthony Ginting
in the quarter-finals and fifth seed HS Prannoy in the semis.
The first game of the final – like the women’s gold medal match a repeat of the
All England final – was a tight one with the pair locked at 15-15.
Li then edged in front and Shi saved three games points before his 23-year-old
opponent – who won gold at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games – took it at the fourth attempt.
He made a fast start to the second, taking an 11-6 lead into the interval.
And Shi was unable to claw back the deficit with Li completing victory in 58 minutes.
China won two of the three doubles golds on offer with Zheng Siwei and
Huang Yaqiong retaining their mixed doubles title, and Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan
successfully defending their women’s doubles crown.
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