Badminton’s Kim So-young (Incheon International Airport) and Gong Hee-yong (Jeonbuk Bank) battled back from injury to win bronze in the women’s doubles at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. The world No. 3 pair fell 1-2 (21-16 9-21 12-21) to world No. 1 Chen Qingcheng and Zhai Fan (CHN) in the women’s doubles quarterfinals on Saturday at Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. In the first set, Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong’s concentration shone through .At 17-16, Gong Hee-yong used her body-forward defense to catch a hard smash and draw her opponent’s error, while Kim So-young read her opponent’s wobbly serve correctly as Zhai Fan misjudged the line and swung into the air. But the tide of the match swung sharply in China’s favor in the second set. Kim, who injured her right calf in training last month, appeared to be struggling with the aftermath of the injury and was seen trying to help her partner Gong Hee-yong cover the court too much. After going into the interval at 8-11 in the second set, the Koreans lost nine consecutive points after resuming play .It was a similar story in the third set. With the score at 3-5, Kim So-young asked the referee to give her right calf a quick medical treatment .After the break, Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong showed great defense and exquisite net play in the ensuing rally to pull within one point. However, the Chinese team also took a medical break to turn the tide again and eventually won the match with six consecutive points. “It’s unfortunate to think that we lost, but I’m glad that we were able to play one game and win a valuable bronze medal,” said Kim So-young after the match. “This is not the end, but the halfway point to our goal (Paris Olympics),” said a red-eyed Kim. “If I don’t get sick and prepare well, I can bring home a different color medal from last year’s Tokyo Olympics (bronze),” she said confidently. “I’m grateful to my sister for running so hard despite her illness,” Gong Hee-yong said, 토토 but lamented, “I should have done better, but I’m left with a lot of regrets that I didn’t.”