Jeong Na-eun (left) and Kim Won-ho are receiving a shuttlecock passed by Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong during the semifinals of the mixed doubles badminton match held at the Porte de Chapelle Arena in Paris, France on the 1st (local time).
It was a rebellion by unknown seeds. The Korean mixed doubles pair of Kim Won-ho and Jung Na-eun (world ranking 8th) defeated the favorites Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong (2nd) in the semifinals to secure their spot in the finals of the 2024 Paris Olympics. In doing so, the Korean mixed badminton doubles team secured its first Olympic medal in 16 years. The last medal in the Korean mixed doubles team was the gold medal won by Lee Yong-dae and Lee Hyo-jeong
at the 2008 Beijing Games. On the 1st (local time), the Kim Won-ho and Jung Na-eun team defeated their national team teammates Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong 2-1 (21-16, 20-22, 23-21) in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Porte de la Chapelle in Paris, France. The Kim Won-ho and Jung Na-eun team was the only team that advanced to the semifinals of the mixed doubles at this tournament that was not seeded. In badminton doubles, only the top 4 teams are seeded.
However, they took the lead from the first set of the day, beating Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong 21-16, and lost the second set after a close deuce battle 20-22. Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun took the 20-point high point first in the third set, and took the match point at 20-18. The experienced Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong did not back down lightly. In the end, the two teams fought a close match to 20-20 and 21-21, but Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong lost two points in a row due to errors, confirming the victory 23-21.
Kim Won-ho is the son of Gil Young-ah, the Samsung Life coach and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics mixed doubles gold medalist. Depending on the final results, the birth of a ‘mother and son’ gold medalist is possible. Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae were once men’s doubles partners. However, their fates were divided after a fierce battle on the way to the Olympic gold medal.
On this day, the coaches’ benches at both ends of the court where Korea’s mixed doubles battle took place were empty. Coaches usually leave the benches empty when their players face each other in a tournament. Korea had originally expected this to happen in women’s doubles, not mixed doubles. However, in the women’s doubles quarterfinals held earlier that day, the world’s No. 2 Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee pair, as well as the Kim So-young and Kong Hee-young pair, were eliminated together. In addition, Seo Seung-jae in men’s doubles had also ended his challenge for a medal in the men’s doubles with Kang Min-hyeok in the quarterfinals about five hours earlier.
After losing to Kang Min-hyeok in the men’s doubles (ranked 4th) at 1:00 PM that day, Seo Seung-jae lost 0-2 to the 2nd seeded Kim Astrup-Anders Scarp Rasmerson (Denmark) pair in the quarterfinals and returned to the court after about five hours. However, he failed to secure a win in the mixed doubles either and will now make his final challenge in the bronze medal match.
On the same day, Kim Ga-eun (ranked 17th), who advanced to the round of 16 in the women’s singles on the adjacent court, lost the first set 4-21 to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (ranked 8th). Kim Ga-eun won the second set 21-8 but lost the game 21-23 in the third set after a 20-20 deuce, losing 1-2, ending this tournament. However, the world’s number one ‘finalist’ Ahn Se-young still remains in the Korean women’s singles. Se-young Ahn, who entered this tournament as the No. 1 seed and advanced to the quarterfinals with a bye, will face Akane Yamaguchi (6th) on the 2nd. 바카라사이트