Badminton Jung Jae-gun-Yoo Su-young, Choi Jeong-man-Kim Jeong-jun win in a family match[패럴림픽]

The Korean national badminton team for the disabled has begun its journey to the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The pair of Jeong Jae-gun (47, Ulsan Jung-gu Office) and Yoo Su-yeong (21, Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled) defeated the pair of Choi Jeong-man (45) and Kim Jeong-jun (46, both Daegu Urban Development Corporation) with a set score of 2-0 (21-14 21-13) in the preliminary round of Group A of the men’s doubles badminton competition (sports grade WH1-2) held at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, France on the 29th (Korean time).

Korea had two groups competing in the men’s doubles WH1-2, out of a total of eight groups divided into two groups. Coincidentally, both groups were in Group A, and an internal feud broke out from the beginning of the tournament.

Jeong Jae-gun and Yoo Su-young, who won the first set, took the lead with four consecutive points in the second set at 12-12 and went on to win the match.

Jeong Jae-gun and Yoo Su-young said after the match, “If we have to face the Korean team anyway, it would be better to meet them in the preliminaries rather than the main tournament,” and “We were able to raise our condition in an atmosphere where we weren’t too nervous.”

In the women’s doubles, the pair of Kwon Hyun-ah (34) and Jeong Gyul-woo (20, both from the Korea Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled) lost to the Japanese pair of Sarina Satomi and Yuma Yamazaki in the Group A preliminary round (WH1-2) with a set score of 0-2 (9-21 12-21).

In the singles, Kwon Hyun-ah defeated Henriette Kuss (Austria), whom she met in the Group B preliminary round (WH1), with a set score of 2-0 (21-18 21-12), recording her first win of the tournament.

In the final men’s singles Group B preliminary round (WH1) held that day, Jeong Jae-gun lost to Qu Zhimo (China) with a set score of 0-2 (14-21 11-21).

Korea, which started its badminton schedule, will play 9 matches in the men’s and women’s singles and doubles group preliminary rounds on the 30th.

In the men’s singles, Kim Jeong-jun, who will play in Group B preliminary round (WH2) with Thomas Jacobs (France), is set to compete, followed by Yoo Su-yeong, Choi Jeong-man, Jeong Jae-gun, and Shin Kyeong-hwan (37, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province).

Shin Kyung-hwan, the only player on the national team to compete in the standing grade, will play his first match of the tournament against Suhas Lalinakere Yatiraj (India) in Group A (SL4).

In doubles, the Choi Jeong-man-Kim Jeong-jun pair will aim for their first win, while the Jeong Jae-gun-Yu Su-young pair will aim for a consecutive win against the French David Touffé-Jacobs pair.

In the women’s singles, Jeong Gyul-woo will play against Misha Gins (Australia) in the Group B preliminary round (WH2). The pair of Kwon Hyun-ah and Jeong Gyul-woo, who are looking for their first win in the doubles, will face the Chinese pair of Liu Yutong and Yin Menglu.

eggod6112@news1.kr