The Korean national badminton team, which had an eventful 2024 season, made a valuable achievement of one gold medal and one silver medal at the Paris Olympics in August, but the entire event fell into a big turmoil as Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) criticized the team’s management.
The Badminton Korea Association was ordered by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to conduct a massive reorganization. The association released a press release last month, saying that it had held interviews with national team players and held a briefing session to collect opinions to revise some of the absurd guidelines for national team operation.
Korea’s badminton suffered the humiliation of being a “no medal” at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games. It was the first disaster in 40 years since the 1978 Bangkok Games. It was a period of decline following the loss of the gold medal following the mixed doubles by Lee Yong-dae (Yonex) and Lee Hyo-jung (retired) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The national team started again in November 2022 under the leadership of Kim Hak-kyun. Coaches Han Dong-sung (men’s doubles), Lee Kyung-won (women’s doubles), Kim Sang-soo (mixed doubles), Jeong Hoon-min (men’s singles), and Sung Ji-hyun (women’s singles) set sail for the Hangzhou Asian Games last year and the Paris Olympics this year.
The training was so rigorous that coaches and athletes desperately wanted to stay out. At the opening ceremony of the Asian Games in August last year, Kim So-young (Incheon International Airport) confessed, “Give me some holes to breathe on weekends. I want to come back after getting refreshed,” while Coach Sung also talked about staying out all night, only to find out why he was behind on his murderous schedule. Both of them were newlyweds with a husband who was a former badminton player.
Efforts do not betray,” Ahn said. Last year, Ahn Se-young won a gold medal in women’s singles for the first time in 27 years since Bae Soo-hyun in 1996, and became the first Korean to win a gold medal in singles at the World Championships. Seo Seung-jae also won two gold medals at the World Championships, including men’s doubles with Kang Min-hyuk (Samsung Life Insurance) and mixed doubles with Chae Yoo-jeong (Incheon International Airport).
In the Asian Games, Ahn also won the women’s team event and singles, becoming the second Asian Games champion for the first time in 29 years since Bang Soo-hyun at the 1994 Hiroshima Games. At the Asian Games, the Korean team won two gold medals, two silver medals (men’s and women’s doubles), and three bronze medals (women’s doubles and mixed doubles). Ahn and Seo were named the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Player of the Year.
The national team continued good news again this year at the Paris Olympics. Ahn Se-young won a gold medal in women’s singles after Su Soo-hyun at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was the first gold medal in Korean badminton in 16 years since 2008. Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life Insurance) and Jeong Na-eun (Hwasun County Office) also teamed up to win silver medals in mixed doubles.
However, Ahn’s determined remarks revealed that there were quite a few problems in the management of the national team. According to the proposal submitted by Ahn to the association in February, there was still a hierarchy in which juniors had to report their seniors’ bad practices of washing their clothes and cleaning their accommodation, going out and staying out. Although the suggestion is said to have been improved since then, it was hard to say that the situation has completely disappeared considering that Ahn made bombshell remarks right after the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
However, regarding the atmosphere of the national team after the award ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Jeong Na-eun said, “I get along well with the coaching staff because all the players are nice and fun.” There is a strange distance from Ahn’s criticism.
Anyway, the national team is facing a major change. For now, the contract for coaching staff including head coach Kim Hak-kyun has been extended through this year. There is a possibility that the coaching staff will also change depending on the outcome of the next presidential election after the current chairman Kim Taek-gyu.
Based on the tangible results mentioned above, the current coaching staff deserves an extension of the contract. However, the internal situation of the national team is not without problems, considering Ahn’s suggestion, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the association’s investigation and interviews with the national team. This is why some say that the coaching staff should also make changes in order to renew the mood in the badminton community.
“No decision has been made on the appointment of national team coaches in the future,” an association official said after the award ceremony. “We will have to discuss with the current coaching staff whether to renew the contract or open recruitment as a whole,” he added.
There is a high possibility that the management of the national team will also change. “I am thinking about how to manage the national team if I get a good chance again,” coach Kim said in an interview after the award ceremony. “Honestly, we had to hold the Asian Games for the first time in 11 months and the Olympics for the first time in 10 months for two years, so not only us but also Asian athletes had no choice but to train too hard,” he said. “We have time to spare since it will take about 20 months from next year to the Asian Games.”
He also hinted at the possibility of a generational change and a change of partnership in doubles. “Players are aging in some areas,” coach Kim said. “We need to make players who will compete until the next Olympics (2028, LA Games), but we are planning to make a new team for doubles next year.” “We won an Olympic medal that no one expected, but it’s time to choose between mixed doubles and women’s doubles,” Jeong Na-eun said. “I think we are leaning toward mixed doubles by 55 percent.”
The most important part is Ahn. Given the possibility of individual sponsorship, Ahn, like former figure skating champion Kim Yu-na and swimming champion Park Tae-hwan, may have an international competition with a team that is in charge of separating them from the national team. Ahn may remain with the national team, depending on negotiations with Yonex, the official sponsor of the event. If so, Ahn’s teamwork with the current coaching staff, which is rumored to be at odds, should be improved. 바카라사이트
Coincidentally, Ahn Se-young did not attend the reward ceremony, but she watched the women’s professional basketball game scheduled before. “The overall atmosphere regarding Ahn Se-young has to wait, and we need time,” head coach Kim said. “I will wait first, and then we will show a positive attitude between each other.”
The national team will depart for Hangzhou, China, on the 8th for the BWF Tour Final, which is the king of the season. After that, the national team selection match will be held in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, starting on the 21st. It remains to be seen how the future of Korean badminton, which has had two years of ups and downs including spectacular achievements and conflicts behind them, will unfold.
