South Korea's Baek Hana and Lee So-hee Win Badminton Doubles World Title
The pair beat China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning in New Delhi for South Korea's first women's doubles world championship in badminton since 1995.
Baek Hana and Lee So-hee of South Korea won the women's doubles title at the Badminton World Federation World Championships on Sunday, beating China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 21-15, 21-15 at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, according to the Korea Herald.
The win gives South Korea its first world championship in the event in more than three decades. Baek and Lee are only the second South Korean pair to win the women's doubles world title, following Gil Young-ah and Jang Hye-ock, who won in 1995, the Korea Herald reported.
A Dominant Final
Baek and Lee never trailed in the first game, opening with five straight points on their way to a 21-15 win, the Korea Herald reported. The second game was tighter. The two teams were tied 4-4 before Baek and Lee pulled ahead 10-5. Liu and Tan clawed back to within a point at 13-12, but Baek and Lee answered with five unanswered points to close out the match and the title in 51 minutes, according to the Korea Herald.
A Mixed Day For South Korea
The result came on a day of split fortunes for South Korean badminton in New Delhi. In the men's doubles, defending champions Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho lost in the semifinals to Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, 21-17, 21-18, ending their bid to repeat as world champions, the Korea Herald reported.
Later Sunday, South Korea's An Se-young, the world's top-ranked women's singles player, was scheduled to face Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, ranked second, in the women's singles final, according to the Korea Herald, which credited Yonhap. An won her first world title in 2023. Yamaguchi has won the title three times, in 2021, 2022 and 2025, the Korea Herald reported.
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