Underdogs emerge victorious in grueling Korea-on-Korea badminton mixed doubles semifinal

Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun beat Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung in a grueling Korea-on-Korea badminton mixed doubles semifinal at La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Thursday, guaranteeing Korea at least one medal in the event.

Korea's Kim Won-ho, left, and Jeong Na-eun play against compatriots Seo Sung-jae and Chae Yu-jung in the mixed doubles badminton semifinals in Paris, France on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun beat Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung in a grueling Korea-on-Korea badminton mixed doubles semifinal at La Chapelle Arena in Paris on Thursday, guaranteeing Korea at least one medal in the event.

The four Koreans were incredibly evenly matched across three games, pushing to match point four times in the third game. Kim and Jeong ultimately prevailed after 77 minutes on the court, all four players visibly exhausted and Kim even having to stop the match at one point to be sick into a bag.

It was a big win for Kim and Jeong, who rank five spots below their Team Korea teammates on the Badminton World Federation world ranking, at eighth to Seo and Chae’s third. The No. 1 spot is held by China’s Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, who are competing on the other side of the bracket as of press time.

Korea's Seo Sung-jae, left, and Chae Yu-jung play against their compatriots Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun in the mixed doubles badminton semifinals in Paris, France on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

With the win, Kim and Jeong advance to take on either Zheng and Huang or Japanese pair Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higashino in the final, guaranteeing at least a silver medal for Korea in the event. Seo and Chae will advance to the bronze medal game where they could also still secure some silverware.

Mixed doubles will be Korea’s only doubles medal in badminton at the Paris Olympics, with both the men’s and women’s doubles pairs crashing out in the quarterfinals earlier on Thursday. The mixed final will be held on Friday.

Korea also remains active in the women’s singles, where world No. 1 An Se-young is set to face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

An, 22, was the first Korean ever to win the women’s world championship title last year, and went on to take gold at the hotly-contested Asian Games. She won eight of ten available World Tour Open titles last year.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]