Sung Ji-hyun (; born 29 July 1991) is a South Korean badminton player from

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. She is an

Asian Championship An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

gold medalist, a two-time

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

gold medalist, and a

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

bronze medalist. She was also part of South Korean teams that won the 2010 Uber Cup, 2017 Sudirman Cup, as well the team event at the 2013 and 2015 Summer Universiade. She competed at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 Asian Games, and at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

. Sung is married to compatriot men's singles player,

Son Wan-ho Son Wan-ho (Hangul: 손완호; or ; born 17 May 1988) is a South Korean badminton player. He reached a career high as world number 1 in the men's singles in May 2017. He competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. He plays primarily defensive ...

Early life and education

Sung went into

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

following the path of her parents Sung Han-kook and

Kim Yun-ja Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese fo ...

who both competed internationally in the 1980s.

Career

She won the Korea Grand Prix Gold title in 2011. Unlike most South Korean badminton players Sung has focused on singles and in December 2011 she received a career high ranking of number seven in the world in that discipline. In 2012, Sung's performances at Super Series event improved, and she reached semifinals in the Indonesia Open, Singapore Open and Japan Open. She was seeded 8th at the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. However, she lost to

Yip Pui Yin Yip Pui Yin (; born 6 August 1987) is a badminton player from Hong Kong. Career Yip played at the 2005 World Badminton Championships in Anaheim. In the women's singles event she reached the third round after beating Laura Molina of Spain an ...

and did not make it past the group stage. She defended her Korea Grand Prix title at the end of the year. Sung won her first Super Series Premier title early in 2013 at her hometown, at the Korea Open. This propelled her ranking up to world no.5, the highest of her career. Sung reached the semi finals at the All England, losing to eventual winner

Tine Baun Tine Baun (née Rasmussen; born 21 July 1979) is a Danish former badminton player. Most notably, she won the All England Open Badminton Championships women's singles title three times in 2008, 2010, and 2013 – the last of these being her final ...

in a match that lasted for 76 minutes, with a final score of 22–24, 21–19, 19–21. She later won the 2013 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold against

Tai Tzu-ying Tai Tzu-ying (; born 20 June 1994) is a Taiwanese badminton player. At the age of 22, she became world No. 1 in the women's singles in December 2016, and she is the women's singles player who has held that title for the longest in BWF hist ...

, 21–16, 21–9. Then, she reached the finals of 2013 Denmark Super Series Premier losing to Wang Yihan in 21–16, 18–21, 20–22. In 2013 Korea Open Grand Prix Gold, she went up against compatriot

Bae Youn-joo Bae Yeon-ju (Hangul: 배연주, Hanja: 裵延姝; ; born 26 October 1990) is a retired international badminton player from South Korea. Career Bae started playing badminton at aged 10, and first gained international attention in 2006 when she ...

and she was beaten in 3 sets, 21–19, 15–21, 21–9. At the 2014 German Open Grand Prix Gold, she reached the final which

Sayaka Takahashi is a retired Japanese badminton player who was a singles specialist. She was the bronze medalist at the 2013 and 2014 Asian Championships. Takahashi reached a career high as world number 10 in the BWF World Ranking in February 2019. Personal ...

won, 21–17, 8–21, 21–12. At the 2014 Badminton Asia Championships, she became the first South Korean in 10 years to win the title, beating 1st seeded

Wang Shixian Wang Shixian (; ; born 13 February 1990) is a retired Chinese professional badminton player. She is a former World No. 1 in women's singles. Career Wang Shixian was admitted into Chinese Junior National Team in 2005 and was soon promoted to ...

21–19, 21–15. At the 2014 Chinese Taipei Open Grand Prix Gold, she won 21–13, 21–18 against Liu Xin. She qualified for the Dubai

2014 BWF Super Series Masters Finals The 2014 BWF Super Series Finals was the final competition of the 2014 BWF Super Series. It was held from December 17 to December 21 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Representatives by nation §: Ko Sung Hyun from Korea was the only players who ...

and lost to

in the final, 17–21, 12–21. Total world champion 2015 semi-final

She won the 2015 German Open Grand Prix Gold beating

Carolina Marin Carolina may refer to: Geography * The Carolinas, the U.S. states of North and South Carolina ** North Carolina, a U.S. state ** South Carolina, a U.S. state * Province of Carolina, a British province until 1712 * Carolina, Alabama, a town in t ...

21–15, 14–21, 21–6. In 2017, she helped the South Korean national team to win the world team championships at the 2017 Sudirman Cup. 2019 Chinese Taipei Open 02

Achievements

BWF World Championships

''Women's singles''

Asian Championships

''Women's singles''

Summer Universiade

''Women's singles''

BWF World Tour (1 title, 1 runner-up)

The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. ''Women's singles''

BWF Superseries (2 titles, 6 runners-up)

The BWF Superseries, which was launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries levels are Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries consists of twelve tournaments around the world that have been introduced since 2011. Successful players are invited to the Superseries Finals, which are held at the end of each year. ''Women's singles'' :

BWF Superseries Finals The BWF Super Series Finals (named as BWF Super Series Masters Finals until 2009) was an annual badminton tournament held at the end of the year where the players with the most points from that calendar year's twelve events of the BWF Super Series c ...

tournament : BWF Superseries Premier tournament :

BWF Superseries The BWF Super Series was a series of Grade 2 badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). It was launched on December 14, 2006 and implemented in 2007. Since 2011, the Super Series includes two levels of tournament, ...

tournament

BWF Grand Prix (10 titles, 3 runners-up)

The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the

BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold BWF may refer to: Sports organisations Badminton * Badminton World Federation, an international governing body for badminton Professional wrestling * Brazilian Wrestling Federation, a Brazilian Professional wrestling promotion. * British Wrestling ...

. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) which was held from 2007 to 2017. ''Women's singles'' : BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament : BWF Grand Prix tournament

Record against selected opponents

Record against year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semifinalists, and Olympic quarterfinalists. Accurate as of 21 January 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sung, Ji-hyun 1991 births Living people Badminton players from Seoul South Korean female badminton players Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players of South Korea Badminton players at the 2010 Asian Games Badminton players at the 2014 Asian Games Badminton players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Universiade gold medalists for South Korea Universiade medalists in badminton Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade 21st-century South Korean women