By Richa Naidu
PARIS (Reuters) – South Korean mixed doubles pair Jeong Na-eun and Kim Won-ho both found themselves thinking about their mothers after winning a silver medal in the badminton at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Jeong, 24, lost her mother during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was visibly emotional after being defeated in the gold-medal match, saying: “My mum had saved my number on her phone as ‘my Olympian Na-eun’.
“I feel bad I wasn’t able to keep my promise to her and win gold but I am sure my mother is watching from heaven and supporting me.”
Kim’s mother is former Olympic champion Gil Yeong-ah, who won a mixed doubles gold and a women’s doubles silver at the Atlanta 1996 Games, plus a bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“When I was young, I looked up to my mum and wanted to be an Olympian myself — of course I felt pressure,” Kim said after he and Jeong, the world’s number eight team, were trounced 21-8 21-11 by favourites Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong of China at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris.
“But the Chinese players were better. I felt a lot of things, learned a lot of things and next time I’ll be able to play better,” he added.
With Friday’s loss, all of South Korea’s Olympic title hopes in badminton now rest on the shoulders of women’s singles world number one An Se-young.
An plays Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the singles quarter-finals on Saturday.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; editing by Clare Fallon)
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