Olympic expectations are high after defeating the world's No. 1 and No. 2 men's doubles

Seung-jae Seo and Min-hyuk Kang (Samsung Life Insurance), ranked third in the world in badminton men's doubles, won the '2024 India Open' and filled the void left by Ahn Se-young (22), the star of the women's singles.

Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk defeated world number two Satwikhairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (India) in the men's doubles final of the tournament held in New Delhi, India on the 21st (Korean time) with a game score of 2-1 (15-21 21-11). 21-18).

Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk, who gave up the first game, used clever net play in the second game to close the gap by 10 points, turning the game back to 1-1.

The championship point was reached thanks to Kang Min-hyuk's smashes in the last three games. As Shetty was unable to block Kang Min-hyuk's push, Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk defeated Rankireddy and Shetty, who enjoyed the home court advantage, to win the championship.

With this, Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk achieved their second win (four losses) against Rankireddy and Shetty. Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk, who had suffered three consecutive losses to Rankireddy and Shetty until the Malaysia Open semifinals last week after winning the quarterfinals of the Korea Open in April 2022, succeeded in breaking the losing streak.

They even ranked first in the world in the King of Kings at the end of last year. At the World Badminton Federation World Tour Finals, a battle of kings, Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk won the men's doubles final by defeating world No. 1 players Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. As a result, the record against Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang became 1 win and 1 loss.

Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk, who won the World Championships in August last year and became world champions in men's doubles, fell into a slump in subsequent competitions such as the Hangzhou Asian Games, but made a comeback by reaching the top again at the World Tour Finals in December.

Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk are growing into pillars that lead Korean badminton. Ahn Se-young, who suffered from injury after winning the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, won again at the Malaysia Open last week, but withdrew from this year's India Open due to aggravated injury during the match. While Ahn Se-young, the women's doubles and mixed doubles all failed to advance to the finals, Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk were the only players to win gold medals, protecting the pride of Korean badminton.

Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk now set their sights on the upcoming Paris Olympics. As he succeeded in hunting down the world's first and second places, his chances of winning an Olympic medal also increased.

Korean badminton won two gold medals in men's doubles at the Olympics. Kim Moon-soo and Park Joo-bong won gold medals in 1992, and Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon won gold medals in 2004. The last Olympic medal won by Korea in this event was the bronze medal won by Jeong Jae-seong and Lee Yong-dae in 2012. 19가이드03