‘Badminton Queen’ Ahn Se-young (21) was defeated by national teammate Kim Ga-eun (25) in the season’s King of Kings.

Se-young Ahn lost to Ga-eun Kim 0-2 (18-21 18-21) in the first match of Group A of the 2023 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals held in Hangzhou, China on the 13th.

This competition is the final stage of the BWF international competition held throughout the year. The top 8 ranked players (teams) in 5 categories, including men's and women's singles and mixed doubles, will participate and be divided into two groups. After the group stage, the champion will be determined through a tournament starting from the semifinals.

Ahn Se-young, world number one in women's singles, was considered a strong candidate to win this tournament, but she started the tournament uneasy as she lost to 13th-ranked Kim Ga-eun in the first match without winning a single set.

On the other hand, Kim Ga-eun, who was lucky enough to participate in the tournament due to Akane Yamaguchi (Japan)'s injury, defeated Ahn Se-young with an unexpected performance, raising expectations for her.

The match on this day was a close match from the first set.

With the match tied at 18-18, Kim Ga-eun broke through Ahn Se-young's defense with a diagonal attack deep into the opponent's court and won the first set with 21-18.

Ahn Se-young stepped up her offense in the second set and seemed to be in control, taking a 10-8 lead midway through the set.

However, Kim Ga-eun succeeded in turning the tables again with a quick attack and ran away with the score 17-12.

Ahn Se-young caught up to a 2-point gap in fierce pursuit at the last minute, but was unable to overcome Kim Ga-eun's high concentration and bowed her head.

Baek Hana and Lee So-hee are cheering after winning against Chen Qingchen-Zaifan in the badminton women's team final match between South Korea and China at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on the 1st.

Meanwhile, in the women's doubles, where another family battle took place, the world's second-ranked team of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na defeated the world's third-ranked team of Kim So-young and Kong Hee-yong 2-0 (21-11 22-20).

In the final of the All England Open last March, the pair of Kim So-young and Kong Hee-yong won, but the winner changed for the first time in nine months.

The pair of Lee So-hee and Baek Hana, who won the first set with a wide score margin, took a 9-3 lead from the beginning in the second set.

The power of Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong was also impressive. They fought back fiercely after the middle of the second set and reached 20-20.

However, at this time, Kong Hee-yong made a fatal serving error, and the team of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na took the lead and succeeded in their last attack, earning their first win in the group stage. 19가이드03