Korea is Dominating the Semifinals of the BWF World Tour Finals
Korea made it in four categories at the BWF World Tour Finals 2020. The only category that they don’t appear in is the men's singles.
In the women's singles, An Se Young was able to reach the semifinals as the champion of Group A after defeating Carolina Marin from Spain 21-16, 14-21, 21-19 in a match held on Friday (29/1/2021). This victory makes the player, who will turn 19 on February 5, reduce her loss to Marin, the 2016 Rio Olympics champion, to 2-4.
On the other hand, for Marin, this was her first defeat in 2021. In the two previous events, Yonex and Toyota Thailand Open, the 27-year-old athlete won the title after defeating her tough opponents Including Se Young twice in the semifinals of the two events.
In the semifinals, Se Young will face Tai Tzu Ying from Taiwan who was the runner-up in Group B. The two of them have only met once, namely in the 2019 Sudirman Cup. At that event, Se Young won the rubber game 14-21, 21-18, 21-16.
In the women's doubles, South Korea has two pairs, Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan (Group A winner) and Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong (Group B winner).
Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan won twice over two Malaysian pairs Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean (Malaysia) and Vivian Hoo / Yap Cheng Wen. They lost to Indonesia’s representatives Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu, but the scoring system made them qualify and win the group.
But for Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong, they beat all opponents in the group, namely Chloe Birch/Lauren Smith from England, Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai (Thailand), and Linda Efler/Isabel Herttrich (Germany).
Because they are both group winners, it is possible that an All-Korean Women’s Doubles Finals like in the Toyota Thailand Open could be repeated. Lee So Hee/Shin Seung Chan will be challenged by the Malaysian double Chow Mei Kuan/Lee Meng Yean and Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong tested by Jongkolphan Kititharakul/Rawinda Prajongjai from Thailand.
In the men's doubles, Choi Solgyu/Seo Seung Jae also won Group B. In the semifinals, they will meet with the Indonesian senior doubles Hendra Setiawan/Mohammad Ahsan which they had defeated in the early round.
The representatives in the mixed doubles Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yu Jung will face Goh Soon Huat/Lai Shevon Jemie from Malaysia. Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yu Jung qualify as group winners without losing. Even the champions of Yonex Thailand Open 2021 and Toyota Thailand Open, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Thailand) were beaten 21-17, 21-17.
With representatives in 4 out of 5 categories in the semifinal, Korea is strengthening their chance to win the title again at the BWF World Tour Finals 2020.
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