Badminton Kim So-Young and Gong Hee-Yong Win 'Family Feud' to Claim Olympic Bronze Medal

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] In the Tokyo Olympics badminton women's doubles bronze medal match between Korean players, Kim So-young (29, Incheon International Airport) and Gong Hee-yong (25, Jeonbuk Bank) defeated Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan (both 27, Incheon International Airport).

World-ranked 5th Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong won 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) against world-ranked 4th Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan in the Tokyo Olympics badminton women's doubles bronze medal match held on the 2nd at Musashino Forest Sports Plaza in Tokyo, Japan.

Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong took home the bronze medal, while Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan finished in 4th place. Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong narrowed their head-to-head record against Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan to 3 wins and 4 losses.

Korean badminton ended the Olympics with one women's doubles bronze medal for two consecutive tournaments, following the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In the Rio Games, Shin Seung-chan won the bronze medal with Jung Kyung-eun (31, Gimcheon City Hall).

Since the mixed doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae), no gold medals have been won for three consecutive tournaments.

Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong, and Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan both advanced to the semifinals, raising expectations for a final showdown, but they lost in the semifinals to Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan (China), and Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu (Indonesia), respectively, and competed for the bronze medal.

This is the first time since the 2004 Athens Olympics men's doubles when Korean players faced each other in a medal-deciding match: Ha Tae-kwon and Kim Dong-moon (gold medal), Lee Dong-soo and Yoo Yong-sung (silver medal).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.