Korean Badminton Is Back.
Normal service has resumed after a historic week in Copenhagen.
For Korean badminton, the 2023 BWF World Championships will forever be a core memory, maybe even a canon event.
What Happened?
The day began with a bruising Mixed Doubles encounter between China’s World #1 pairing of Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, and Korea’s World #5 duo of Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung. After an hour of breathless back-and-forth, the Koreans came out on top, securing their nation its first World Championships title since 2014. That alone is already a historic and significant achievement.
But their compatriots had other plans.
In the Women’s Singles, the irrepressible An Se-young cemented herself as a firm favorite for the 2024 Olympic Games, dominating three-time World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Carolina Marin by a margin of 21–12, 21–10. It was a supreme, clinical display that brought Korea its first-ever World Champion in the discipline. Yet another piece of history.
We’re still not done.
The day was scheduled to end with the showpiece event, the possible crowning moment of local heroes Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. The Copenhagen crowd were incandescent. Standing in their way were Korea’s hard-hitting Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae, contesting his second fixture of the day. Despite taking the first game convincingly, the Danes struggled to overcome Korea’s persistent, blitzing style of play. The Royal Arena was stunned into silent admiration. Seo Seung-jae had just became the first man to win the “doubles double” since his compatriot Kim Dong-moon did it in 1999, also in Copenhagen. As for the Korean team, this was the first time they had three World Champions in the same year, joining an elite (and small) list of nations to have done that — China and Indonesia.
Why Does This Matter?
More than being an outstanding achievement in and of itself, Korea’s efforts at these World Championships caps off a year of rejuvenation. In 2023 alone, Korea has already won as many World Tour titles (20) as they did in 2020, 2021, and 2022 combined, and look poised to exceed that, perhaps even closing the gap between them and Indonesia, the next most successful Tour nation.
This is a stunning turnaround. After a wave of early retirements and internal issues saw a golden generation fade away in the late 2010s, there were concerns Korea would never return to its former heights. Although a shock Sudirman Cup victory in 2017 (a lean year where Korea only won 2 SuperSeries events) suggested otherwise, a disastrous Asian Games campaign in 2018 made that win seem like a blip. But you can’t keep a champion down for long. This new crop of superstars is restoring Korean badminton to its rightful place, reminding the world why Korea is:
- 2nd in the all-time Sudirman Cup standings (4 titles)
- 3rd in the all-time Olympic badminton medal table (20 medals, including 6 golds)
- 3rd in the all-time World Championships medal table (61 medals, including 13 golds)
- Home to the most decorated player in modern BWF history (Lee Yong-dae) and all-time BWF World Championships history (Park Joo-bong)
Normal service has resumed, and that is cause for celebration.
