Badminton: Olympic titleholder An Se-young advances to BWF World Tour Finals semifinals
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Hangzhou (China), Dec 13 (NationPress) Paris Olympic titleholder An Se-young from South Korea secured her place in the women’s singles semifinals of the 2024 BWF World Tour Finals on Friday. Following her defeat to Japanese star Akane Yamaguchi on Thursday in Group B, An achieved a convincing 21-11, 21-15 victory over China’s Han Yue to move forward. Han Yue also made it to the semifinals with two wins.
From Group A, Japan's Aya Ohori and China's Wang Zhiyi also reached the last four, as reported by Xinhua.
In the men's singles category, Denmark's Anders Antonsen and Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen advanced to the semifinals from Group A, while local favorite Shi Yuqi and Indonesia's Jonatan Christie made it to the final four from Group B.
In other events, Olympic champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China secured a semifinal berth in the mixed doubles category, while Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan effortlessly sailed into the women’s doubles semifinals.
"I've kept my promise to reach the semifinals. I hope all my fans can enjoy our last dance," stated Zheng, who announced in November his plans to retire from international competition after the BWF World Tour Finals.
China had previously claimed both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles at the 2023 BWF World Tour Finals, while Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei and Viktor Axelsen of Denmark won the women’s and men’s singles respectively.
In the women's doubles final, defending champions Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China faced little resistance from the South Korean duo Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee before securing their 21-16, 21-16 victory.
Mixed doubles world No. 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China retained their title with a straight-game win of 21-11, 21-18 against their fellow compatriots Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping.
