South Korea’s An Se-young and Seo Seung-jae win big at badminton awards
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An Se-young (left) and Seo Seung-jae swept the Female and Male Player of the Year gongs at the Badminton World Federation awards.
PHOTOS: AFP
HANGZHOU – South Korea swept the Female and Male Player of the Year gongs at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) awards gala in Hangzhou on Dec 11.
Women’s singles world No. 1 An Se-young, 21, and doubles specialist Seo Seung-jae, 26, took home the big awards ahead of the Dec 13-17 World Tour Finals.
Seo achieved the rare feat of winning the men’s doubles with Kang Min-hyuk
The last men’s player to achieve the double was compatriot Kim Dong-moon in 1999.
Seo also won four BWF World Tour titles during the awards assessment period of Nov 1, 2022, to Oct 31, 2023.
The other finalists in the Male Player of the Year category were men’s singles world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
Seo said: “It’s not my achievement alone, this is due to the contribution of my partners, too.
“Earlier, I had never performed well on the big stage as I would lose before the semi-finals or finals, but I thank my fans for standing by me and I’ll continue to do my best.”
No one has performed better on the big stage in 2023 than An. She won 11 titles during the assessment period, including five straight.
That run included the women’s singles crown at the World Championships and the team and individual gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The South Korean pipped China’s Chen Yufei and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi to the award.
She said: “It’s a very happy day for me. It’s been a tiring year.
“It’s a perfect ending for this year, it couldn’t have been better. I’m still young and I hope I can keep achieving more.”
Her perfect year could get even better if she wins her 11th title in 2023 at the World Tour Finals in Hangzhou. That would see her match former men’s singles world No. 1 Kento Momota’s calendar-year record.
An, who has yet to win a title in her two tournaments since injuring her knee at the Asian Games, will face a tricky opener on Dec 13 against compatriot Kim Ga-eun.
The world No. 13 won the Korea Masters in early November and reached the semi-finals at the China Masters later that month. She also owns a decent record against An, winning three of their seven meetings.
The three other awards at the gala went to Chinese players.
The Pair of the Year went to women’s doubles duo Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan while the Most Improved Player of the Year went to mixed doubles outfit Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, leaving women’s doubles partnership Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning to take home the Eddy Choong Most Promising Player gong.
“I’m very happy to get this award, this will motivate us to keep doing well,” said Jia, who won titles at the World Championships and Asian Games.
“We’ve done well in various events this year, but it was our performance in the team events that really stood out in our memory.”
(Clockwise from left) Women’s doubles duo Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan, mixed doubles outfit Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin, and women’s doubles partnership Tan Ning and Liu Shengshu.
PHOTOS: AFP
World No. 5 Kunlavut left the awards night empty-handed but he will start the World Tour Finals with the tag of reigning champion.
However, the 22-year-old insists he is “not yet a top player” and lacks consistency.
He said: “This year, my performance hasn’t been uniformly good. Sometimes it’s really good and sometimes it’s really low. I need to see how to control my performance in every tournament. I need to work harder than before.
“I’m still young and I need to learn from the top players who can control their performance in every tournament. I’m not yet a top player. I need to find out how to play well in every tournament.”
Kunlavut begins his title defence against Indonesia’s world No. 6 Jonatan Christie on Dec 13.
