South Korea’s An Se-young cruises to Thailand Open badminton final, will face He Bingjiao

BANGKOK – Badminton women’s singles world No. 2 An Se-young sailed into the final of the Thailand Open, comfortably upstaging Carolina Marin on Saturday.

The 21-year-old South Korean –

who won the All England Open

as well as tournaments in India and Indonesia in 2023 – was electric on the court, claiming the semi-final in straight games 21-16, 21-12.

An looked dangerous early in the first game with clever net work and lethal smashes, while Marin was sent diving across the court and struggled to hit winners.

Marin, 29, tried to mount a comeback in the second but the Spaniard quickly ran out of steam.

An has made the final of every tournament she has played in this season and said she was feeling confident heading into Sunday’s final.

“I will do my best to make a great match,” she told reporters.

An will meet world No. 5 He Bingjiao in the final after the Chinese powerhouse beat Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt 21-13, 21-18.

“In the first set, I played more boldly because I had the advantage of playing against the wind. After switching sides, Mia played with great precision,” she told reporters.

World No. 6 Marin,

the Rio Olympic gold medallist

and a three-time world champion, has faced a long road to recovery from a devastating knee injury that ruled her out of the Tokyo Olympics and denied her the chance to defend her title.

A disappointed Marin said she had made too many mistakes and her opponent had controlled the shuttle and on-court drift better.

In the men’s singles, Hong Kong’s eighth seed Lee Cheuk-yiu booked a finals berth after outpacing Frenchman Toma Junior Popov 21-14, 21-16 in 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, the crowd went wild as local hope and world No. 5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn came from one game down to beat India’s Lakshya Sen in a cliffhanger 75-minute match.

The second seed triumphed 13-21, 21-17, 21-13.

Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang kept their men’s doubles title hunt alive. They extended their perfect record against Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo, beating the Indonesian duo 21-13, 21-19 in 32 minutes.

The Chinese shuttlers will face another Indonesian pair, Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana, in the final.

Both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles finals will feature rivalries between South Korean and Thai pairs. 

No Singaporean player or pair made it past their opening rounds except Yeo Jia Min, who beat American Iris Wang 21-10, 21-8 and South Korea’s Sim Yu-jin 25-23, 12-21, 21-13 before losing to Blichfeldt 21-11, 21-9 in Friday’s quarter-finals. AFP, XINHUA