Kim Won-ho (left) and Seo Seung-jae on Sept. 1 celebrate after capturing the men's doubles title at the BWF World Championships at the Adidas Arena in Paris. (Badminton Korea Association)
By Jeon Misun
Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, the world's top-ranked men's doubles pair in badminton, has won the team title in the Badminton World Federation World Championships.
In the final, the dynamic duo on Sept. 1 defeated the world's No. 11 team Chen Boyang and Liu Yi of China in straight sets (21-17, 21-12) in just 40 minutes at the Adidas Arena in Paris.
The pair reunited in January for the first time in seven years and promptly started an impressive run by winning a string of major tournaments like the Malaysia Open in January, German Open and All England Open in March, Indonesia Open in June and Japan Open in July. Their latest win at the world championships raised their trophy haul to six this year.
Kim and Seo were not ranked in the world's top 80 until February, but their streak earned them the world No. 1 ranking in July.
Seo also won his second straight world doubles title in Paris, following his win at the 2023 tournament in Denmark with Kang Min-hyuk.
msjeon22@korea.kr