The Taegeuk Warriors competing at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games have begun their final preparations for gold.
World No. 1 badminton women’s singles player Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) will begin her hunt for gold on Monday with the team event. Ahn has won nine titles this year, including the Korea Open, Korea Open and World Championships, and is in top form heading into the Asian Games, having won four tournaments in a row. With her peak form, the Korean badminton player is expected to erase her country’s “40-year medal drought” at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
“I won the China Open (which was a precursor to the Asian Games), but I realized that I had a fitness problem,” Ahn said at the closing ceremony on Dec. 12. At the Asian Games, I will have to play a lot of matches (in both individual and team events), so I will focus on physical fitness,” she said.
Ahn will wrap up the team competition on Jan. 1 next month and will face Akane Yamaguchi (Japan-World No. 2) and Chen Yuefei (China-3) for the singles gold medal. The women’s badminton singles final will be held on Sunday.
South Korean swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon Province) will try to win a triple in the 100-200m freestyle and 800m freestyle relay. He became the first South Korean swimmer to win back-to-back World Championships medals after winning silver in the 200m freestyle at the Budapest World Championships last year and bronze in Fukuoka this year.
While he is widely regarded as unbeatable in the 200m (27), he faces a tougher test in the 100m (24). That’s because Fukuoka gold medalist Fan Zhanle (CHN) is still in the mix. However, Hwang is determined to win the triple, saying, “I’m working hard to keep up with Fan Zhan’er,” and “I think my concentration will be good.”
Korean go ace Shin Shin-seo, who is making his Asian Games comeback after a 13-year absence, is determined to repeat his “sweep” (three golds, one bronze) from Guangzhou 2010. With the men’s individual competition replacing the mixed pairs, Shin will be hunting for gold in both the individual event (Aug. 28) and the team event (Sept. 3).메이저놀이터
The baseball team, which is seeking its fourth consecutive title, will begin its Asian Games journey next month with its first Group B match against Hong Kong at 6:30 p.m. on March 1. “We have a young team, but we are determined to win the gold medal with patriotism and unity,” said Ryu Joong-il, head coach of the baseball team.