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Injured and forced to sit out... Fight or Flight?

20 march 2024

Injured and forced to sit out... Fight or Flight?

Last year, badminton's Ahn Se-young (21-Samsung Life Insurance) was unstoppable. She won nine international titles (singles) and won two titles at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Her performance was nothing short of invincible. However, the knee injury she sustained during the Asian Games seemed to be slowing her down. Although she gave it her all and won the gold medal, the after-effects are holding her back. She took a month off after the Asian Games and competed in three more tournaments before the end of the year, but came up empty. The momentum of winning five consecutive tournaments before the Asian Games was lost.

This year, she seemed to bounce back when she won the Malaysian Open in January, but two days later, she withdrew from the Indian Open in the quarterfinals. This time, it was a thigh injury. He took another month off and returned to the French Open on March 5 to try and win the title again. At the All-England Open, after two days off, she went down on her knees in the fourth round. She had to sit down during the match to treat the injury and tried to play again, but it wasn't enough. Ahn wears tape on her knee at every tournament. Her activity level decreases noticeably as the rallies get longer and the match enters the second half. Her body defense, her specialty, naturally became less successful. His left leg, which is the injured one, has been putting a lot of effort into the game, causing cramps.

He is often caught off guard by competitors such as Chen Yufei (26-China-World No. 2) and Yamaguchi Akane (27-Japan-World No. 4), who he dominated last year. At this rate, some analysts believe he will not be able to achieve his ultimate goal of winning a gold medal at the Paris Olympics this summer.

His insistence on pushing hard is actually a paving stone for the Olympics. Qualification for the Paris Games is based on ranking points, which are awarded for results in various international tournaments between May 1 last year and April 28 this year. As the current world No. 1 in women's singles, Ahn has no problem qualifying for the Olympics. However, once the field is finalized, athletes are seeded according to their ranking points, and the higher the seed, the better to avoid facing tough opponents early on. This means that she will need to perform in multiple tournaments.

Ahn"s most recent events, the French Open and the Korea Open, are two of the five tiers of the BWF (Badminton World Federation) Tour. Ahn is currently at the top of the Olympic rankings with a win and a quarterfinal finish, respectively. She will be seeded based on the combined results of the Asian Championships, which begin next month on April 9.

Nevertheless, many have pointed out that from now on, she should focus on her rehabilitation and injury recovery. If she pushes herself too hard when her body isn't perfect, she may not be able to perform at her best on the Olympic stage. "I want to continue playing and performing well until I can confirm my No. 1 seed," Ahn said upon her arrival on the 19th. A badminton insider said, "I think both she and the national team have tightened the reins as she continues to perform well," adding, "The coaches had to make appropriate adjustments, and it would have been difficult to stop her from being so competitive."


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