South Korea captured two of five titles at the 2023 Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open, a badminton qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Gilbert C. Ada Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Ga Ram Kim faced Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki in the women’s singles match.
King defended solidly in the first set as Miyazaki failed to hit back properly. The first set ended quickly, with Miyazaki making a mistake and Kim winning 21-15. However, when Kim appeared to pin down Miyazaki in the second set, Miyazaki engaged in the fight of her life, with the pair taking turns scoring.
Miyazaki’s goal was to extend the match to the third set of the decider, which she did as the match was tied in the closing points. In the end, Miyazaki won the championship game with a score of 25-23.
However, the third set was tough for Miyazaki as Kim regrouped and took control to win the decisive third set 21-13.
Kim was considered a qualifier and started last in this tournament as she did not play in the main draw. She had to take part in last Tuesday’s qualifiers to advance to the main draw, where she had to play against seeded players. She’s still a qualifier for this week’s game and must play against the seeds again.
In the final match of the day, Mixed Doubles Wang Chan and Shin Seung-chan defeated Japan’s Shimonohashi Rume and Shigeta Mirai
The fast Shimono and Shigeta are no match for the powerful and quick-witted Wang and Jin. In fact, Shen had previously participated in women’s doubles with partner Yu Linli, but lost to Chinese Taipei’s Xu Yaqing and Lin Wangqing.
Wang and Shin get the better of it and cause Shimono and Shigeta to make a serious mistake. The South Korean team won the first set 21-13 without a doubt.
Shimodo/Shigeta tried to bounce back in the second set and forced a tie-break in the third, but Wang/Shin still dominated with strong smashes and good returns to win 21-15.
TakeCare Saipan International 2023 kicks off today from 3pm to 9pm. Tomorrow’s event runs from 10am to 9pm; Thursday’s race runs from 12pm to 9pm; Friday’s event runs from 1pm to 9pm. The semi-finals on Saturday will be played from 1pm to 9pm, while the men’s, women’s singles and men’s, women’s and mixed doubles finals are scheduled for Sunday, June 18, from 12pm to 5pm.
