Suwon City Hall ‘Smashes’ Air Badminton Asia Championships Summit

Suwon Special City Hall won the men’s triple event at the Air Badminton Asian Qualifier for the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games.

The Suwon City Hall team of Lee Hong-je, Shin Dong-beom and Park Joon-hyuk pulled off a dramatic 3-2 upset over Malaysia’s Ching Kaifeng, 스포츠토토 Kok Jing-hong and Lim Chong-king in the men’s triple final of the tournament, which concluded at Putrajaya Citi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday (Nov. 25), according to Korean National Team Head Coach Kim Jong-woong (Suwon City Hall).

Suwon swept Malaysia 3-0 (11-9 11-8 11-10) in the group stage to advance to the quarterfinals, and then swept Indonesia 3-0 (11-9 11-8 11-8) in the semifinals to reach the final.

In the final, Korea faced Malaysia, who had won the group stage, again, and dropped the first and second sets 3-11 and 5-11, but they rallied to take the third set 11-7 and set the stage for a comeback. After taking the fourth set 11-9 to level the match, Suwon City Hall took the final five sets in a deuce battle to win 13-12.

Meanwhile, in the women’s triple final, the Korean gymnastics team of Bu Jin-jin, Hong Yubin, and Lee Ji-won lost 0-3 to the Indonesian team of Islami Marchella Gicha, Nadia Triyola, and Siaika Putri.

The Korean men and women have now qualified for the second ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia, in August.

“I am very proud of the players who participated in the first air badminton tournament, which was unfamiliar to us, and performed unexpectedly well against players from Southeast Asia, where the sport has been revitalized,” said Kim Jong-woong, executive director of the Korea Badminton Association. “We will prepare well for the rest of the year so that we can perform well at the main tournament in August.”

Meanwhile, unlike regular badminton, the shuttlecock in air badminton is made of plastic and weighs 8 grams, giving it a tremendous sense of speed, according to coach Kim Jong-woong. In addition, the size of the stadium is smaller than that of conventional badminton venues, and since the game is played on the sandy floor of the beach, the impact of the wind is greater and the physical exertion is much greater, Kim said.

Before competing in the unfamiliar air badminton tournament, Suwon City Hall experienced the sport for two days in the middle of this month at Daecheon Beach in Chungnam Province, and overcame adverse conditions such as travel and heat to reach the top.

Suwon Special City Hall won the men’s triple event at the Air Badminton Asian Qualifier for the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games. The Suwon City Hall team of Lee Hong-je, Shin Dong-beom and Park Joon-hyuk pulled off a dramatic 3-2 upset over Malaysia’s Ching Kaifeng, 스포츠토토 Kok Jing-hong and Lim Chong-king in the men’s triple…