The 2022 Korea Open Badminton Championships ended yesterday, with the host South Korea winning the women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles crowns, while the national badminton youngster Weng Hongyang broke the nearly three-year championship drought for the national men's singles with an outstanding performance.
The men's singles final between China's Weng Hongyang and Indonesia's Jonatan, who has not previously competed in a high-level open, is the first time the two sides have met. In the first set, the experienced Jonathan controlled the rhythm and won 21-12, and in the second set he also led until the end of the set. But when he was 15-19 behind, Weng Hongyang did not give up, and even scored 6 consecutive points to overtake, thrillingly dragging the game into the decider. In the decider, Weng Hongyang played more freely, leading almost the whole time, and finally won the third set 21-15, which won the opponent 2-1 and won his first super 500 championship.
The last time the men's singles won the BWF Tour dates back to the French Open in October 2019, when Chen Long first defeated Indonesia's Kim Ting in the semi-finals and then defeated Indonesia's Jonathan in the final to successfully defend the title. This time, Weng Hongyang defeated Jonathan to win the championship, breaking the 896-day international Open championship drought for the national men's singles.
The women's singles final was played between No. 2 seed Ann Ande-ya and No. 6 seed, Thailand's Lee Mi-mi, who took the initiative throughout the process, defeating her opponent 21-17, 21-18 and winning the Super 500 tournament on her doorstep for the first time.
South Korea's new pair of Hsu Seung-jae / Kang Min Hyuk played well, eliminating Malaysia's Wu Weisheng / Liu Juncheng, India's Ranki Reddy / Xie Ti, and Indonesia's Ah Shan / Hendra to reach the final. In the final, against another Indonesian duo, Adianto/Alfian, Seo Seung-jae/Kang Min Hyuk staged a comeback and won 19-21, 21-15, 21-18.
The women's doubles title was also won by the South Korean duo, who had defeated Chen Chenchen/Jia Yifan at the All England Open as the No. 2 seed, and they defeated the Thai duo of Benjapa/Rentakarn 2-0 in the final.
The mixed doubles title was won by malaysian duo Chen Jianming/Lai Peijun, who defeated another veteran duo, South Korea's Gao Sung-hyun/Yan Hye-won, 21-18 in the final.
This week, the BWF Tour's Korea Masters (Super 300) will be held in another South Korean city, Gwangju. At present, the National Feather Army has arrived in Gwangju and is about to enter the competition of this tournament.