The thrilling finals day brought firsts for some nations and players, formidable feats by former and reigning champions, and a bittersweet ending for the home crowd.
The TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2023 have now come to an end. Copenhagen hosted the prestigious event for a fifth time, bringing world-class badminton to the Danish capital city in what has been a week of intense showdowns with an even more electrifying last day.
World number one An Se Young solidifies even more her position by winning the women’s singles World Championships title. While she took home the bronze in the last edition, the 21-year-old would this time go on to earn Korea their first women’s singles title in the championships. An succeeded with a strong performance in straight games, 21-12 21-10, in a final against Spaniard Carolina Marin.
Similarly, Kunlavut Vitidsarn has won the first men’s singles World Championships title for Thailand. Vitidsarn’s fight for the gold was not an easy one, as the final against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka stretched for an hour and 49 minutes. After a close loss in the first game, 19-21, the Thai player dominated dthe remainder of the match with a strong decider, 21-18 21-7.
China’s Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan only needed two games to secure their fourth World Championships title. Their formidable feat was achieved by winning against Indonesian duo Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, 21-16 21-12.
Star of the day Seo Seung Jae played in two finals. The Korean athlete was in the opening match of the final day, competing for the mixed doubles title with Chae Yu Jung. Despite losing the second game after a strong start against three-time world champions Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong from China, the Korean duo went on to triumph, 21-17, 10-21, 21-18.
Seo then played in what was a clear highlight of the finals day — and the match that the whole Danish crowd was waiting for. In the fifth and final match Seo, partnered with Kang Min Hyuk, took on home favourites Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen. It was an electrifying atmosphere and even more so after Astrup and Rasmussen took the first game. However, the Korean duo came back to win the match, 14-21, 21-15, 21-17.
Win or lose, the players will now continue on their Road to Paris 2024 and most will have little time to recover from this action-packed week as the China Open, a BWF Super 1000 tournament, is starting in less than two weeks. Stay tuned for what’s to come!