Korea’s Bae Youn Joo has been in the finals of some of the world’s most prestigious badminton tournaments and has won titles both at home and abroad but this weekend, she gets set to do something she hasn’t done in a long time: play in the semi-final of a major tournament in her home country. 

In fact, it is difficult to compare the last time to this - as she has entered the semis of the 2012 VICTOR Korea Open, an OSIM BWF World Superseries Premier event – except that the last time was also auspicious.

Bae Youn Joo had just turned sixteen when she reached the final four of her very first international event, the 2006 BWF World Junior Championships, in Incheon. 

In the 2007 edition she improved to runner-up but it was in 2010 that she shocked everyone by beating world #1 Wang Yihan en route to the final of the Proton Malaysia Open Superseries............... FULL ARTICLE