GWANGJU – Yesterday, November 11th, the 12th World University Badminton Championship come to an end with the finals in the singles and doubles. Host Korea excelled, winning the Championship title in the team competitions, the men’s doubles and the mixed doubles, becoming the most awarded team in this splendid competition.
At the final match of the men’s doubles, the KOR player Kim Ki-jung did his share of work with the powerful smashes he threw to block TPE when TPE tried to overtake KOR. TPE did not give up chasing points and finally tied the first set 18:18. But it was KOR’s victory as they defeated the opponent team with 21:18 and 21:16 in the end.
Men’s Doubles Podium
The final game for the women’s doubles was a match between JPN and TPE. In the beginning, JPN had a great start taking control over the game against TPE. Soon, it seemed TPE turned the tables on JPN chasing after them to a 17:17 tie. However, JPN managed to grab the top spot even after many turnovers with 22:20 and 21:11.
Women’s Doubles Podium
The golden game for the men’s singles was on between the 2nd seed Kai Wen and the no.1 seed Pablo Abian. Kai Wen took the lead throughout the game and he never let it go, defeating Pablo Abian by 21-16 and 21-8 pocketing the title. Lee Dong-keun (KOR) and Ernesto Velazquez (ESP) shared the third place.
Men’s Singles Podium
The women’s singles final featured two TPE players, Tzu-Ying Tai and Hsiao-Ma Pai. Unfortunately for Pai, she injured herself in the first set and had to give up the match, yielding the championship title to the top seed, Tzu-Ying Tai. Kim Su-youn (KOR) and Haruko Suzuki (JPN) earned the bronze medals.
In the final of the mixed doubles, Kang Ji-wook and Kim Chan-mi from KOR fought against another KOR pair, Kim Ki-jung and Kim So-young. Although Kim Ki-jung and Kim So-young did make some mistakes during the game, they came back and showed their best performance, winning the game by 21-19 and 21-17. JPN’s Shohei Hoshino and Shiho Tanaka and POL’s Wojciech Szkudlarczyk and Agnieszka Wojtkowska settled for bronze.
Mixed Doubles Podium
The medal awarding ceremony was held right after all final rounds for the singles, doubles and the mixed doubles had finished. 173 contestants from 18 countries finished off their 6 days of exciting competitions with the closing ceremony of the Championship.
Mayor of Gwangju City, Kang Un-tae, and FISU’s first assessor, Alison Odell, both agreed, “It was great to spend a week of top class badminton without any problems and we will try our best to improve for the Universiade in 2015 with 4 mottos: Environment friendly, Peace, IT and Culture. Thank you everyone who dedicated so much for the Championship and hope to see you again in 2015.”
After the closing speeches were delivered, the athletes celebrated the last moment of the Championship, dancing all together to the internationally popular Korean song Gangnam Style by Psy and taking pictures with their new friends from other countries. The 2012 Gwangju World University Badminton Championship under the slogan, With a Ray of Passion, ended successfully.
(Source: WUBC OC)
NEWSLETTER
Related News
Continental champion, lawyer-to-be and coach… all in a day’s work!
First badminton gold goes to Chinese Taipei
