South Korean Badminton Duo Seeks to Defend World Title Amid Recent Slump

By Yoo Jee-ho SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho, the world No. 1 men's doubles team in badminton, said Friday they will try to return to their winning ways at the upcoming world championships.

Seo and Kim will be the defending champions at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships, which will begin Monday in New Delhi and conclude on Aug. 23. They will seek to become the first South Korean men's doubles team to defend a world title, with Seo going for his third crown in a row after winning the 2023 championship with a different partner, Kang Min-hyuk.

"Although we won the title last year, whatever happened then is already in the past," Seo told reporters at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul. "We have to work even harder to win for the second year in a row."

Kim chimed in: "We have some fond memories of winning this title last year and we will try our best to repeat as the champion."

Seo and Kim enjoyed a dominant 2025 campaign, grabbing a record-tying 11 titles at BWF international events, including their first world crown together. By comparison, they have not been nearly as successful this year.

They won the Malaysia Open in January and All England Open in March, but have not reached the top of any podium since.

They were eliminated in the semifinals of both the Singapore Open and Indonesia Open in June.

After about a month off, they returned to action in July to compete at the Japan Open and the China Open, and lost in the final to the Indonesian tandem of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri at both tournaments.

Seo admitted opponents have been doing a better job scouting the South Korean team's tendencies and responding to them accordingly.

"We know we have been analyzed and picked apart and we just have to figure out how to overcome this," Seo added. "I have been talking constantly with Won-ho about this and we think this is just part of the process of getting better."

Kim added, "I can feel that opponents are better prepared against us now and we have to try to stay ahead of them and put in even more work."

To that end, Kim said he and his partner have been working on their serves so that they will be more unpredictable for their opponents.

Seo added he has also put in extra work to better handle taller opponents.

"Most of our national team teammates are not that tall and so it has been a challenge trying to prepare for matches against taller players," said Seo, listed at 182 centimeters, 2 cm shorter than Kim.

"We brought in players from elsewhere to be our training partners and they helped us practice smashes and net plays."