Olympic gold medalist An Se-young pulls out of all badminton competitions for rest of the month

Olympic gold medalist An Se-young will not attend any of the international badminton competitions she was scheduled to participate in this month.

Korean badminton player An Se-young talks to reporters at Incheon International Airport last Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Olympic gold medalist An Se-young will not attend any of the international badminton competitions she was scheduled to participate in this month.

An, 22, informed the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) through her team, Samsung Life Insurance, that she would not attend these competitions on Monday, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday.

Yonhap reported that the Olympian cited knee and ankle injuries as the reason for withdrawing from the competitions.

An sustained a knee injury at the Hangzhou Asian Games in October last year, where she also won a gold medal. She further injured her ankle upon arriving in Paris for the Olympics this year.

She was set to defend her title at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 750 Japan Open, scheduled from Aug. 20 to 25, and the Super 500 Korea Open, from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1. An is reportedly the only Korean Olympian who will sit out these two international competitions.

The Olympic gold medalist's decision to miss these international competitions came amid allegations raised by An regarding the association's poor management of its athletes. Speaking to reporters immediately after the gold medal match last Monday, she criticized the BKA's mismanagement, including its poor response to her knee injury and outdated training regimens.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday it would open an investigation into the association based on An’s claims.

Last Thursday, the Olympic gold medalist announced her plan to elaborate on her claims after the Paris Olympics concluded but has not made any further comments.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]