Source: Oriental Image/Zheng Hongliang
[Saba Sports News] In the 2024 season, South Korean prodigy An Se-young won four gold medals and two silver medals in BWF Open events, and also secured the gold medal in women’s singles at the Paris Olympics. However, after winning the Olympic title, she got embroiled in a long internal conflict with the Korea Badminton Association. First, she exposed that the association prioritized results over her well-being and had long subjected her to bullying by coaches and senior players, even forcing her to wash their underwear. Later, she showed an unkind expression towards coach Kim Hak-Kyun during a live broadcast, skipped a basketball game, and did not participate in the national team’s Olympic celebration ceremony. At the end of last year, when An Se-young was awarded the Best Women’s Singles Athlete of the Year, the Korea Badminton Association immediately announced that they had decided to terminate their collaboration with head coach Kim Hak-Kyun. South Korean media reported that the Korea Badminton Association held a performance evaluation meeting for Coach Kim Hak-Kyun, eventually deciding not to continue cooperation. Some fans expressed that the conflict between Kim Hak-Kyun and An Se-young was the fundamental reason for his dismissal. Now, Kim Hak-Kyun has a new position; he will go to Vietnam to coach.