Badminton star An Se-young to withdraw from August tournaments

Paris Olympic badminton champion An Se-young has decided to withdraw from all international tournaments scheduled for this month, citing knee and ankle injuries, amid a row with the national badminton association.

Yonhap News Agency learned through information gathered from various sources Tuesday that An Se-young had informed the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) of such a decision through her club team, Samsung Life Insurance, the previous day.

An, who recently clinched gold in women’s singles at the Paris Olympics, will skip the BWF World Tour Super 750 Japan Open (Aug. 20-25) and the Super 500 Korea Open (Aug. 27-Sept. 1). She was set to defend her titles at both events.

The 22-year-old cited knee and ankle injuries as the reason for her withdrawal.

She injured her right knee during the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games final and hurt her ankle tendon in the pre-Olympic training camp this year.

However, speculation is rife that An’s decision may be linked to her recent criticism of the BKA.

Soon after her Olympic victory on Aug. 5, An lashed out at her national team and the association for their poor handling of her knee injury, and for outdated and inefficient operations, among other things.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has launched an investigation into the association in response to An’s comments.

As of now, An is reportedly the only Olympic team member who has announced her withdrawal from the upcoming tournaments.

She has yet to comment further on the situation since her initial statements following the Olympics.