CHENGDU: South Korean shuttler An Se-young (pic) is eager to visit a panda called Fu Bao in Chengdu after competing in the Uber Cup Finals.
Pandas are one of the main attractions in Chengdu and Se-young wants to set some time aside to travel to see the cute animals, especially Fu Bao.
“I heard that Fu Bao just returned to Chengdu from South Korea,” said Se-young.
“I hope to have some time to visit her while I’m here.”
Fu Bao, which means treasure that gives happiness, was the first panda born in South Korea and was sent back to China earlier this month.
The panda was born in 2020 after her parents Ai Bao and Le Bao were gifted by Chinese president Ji Xinpeng to South Korea in 2016.
Before going to see Fu Bao, world No. 1 Se-young is out to help South Korea defend the title they won in the last edition in 2022 in Bangkok.
The reigning world champion played an important role in her country’s stunning victory and is hoping to be similarly influential again this time.
“I want to go all out to help my country win the title again,” said Se-young.
“It will be tough but we will give it our best shot.”
South Korea will be relying even more on Se-young to deliver after the country’s No. 2 and world No. 13 Kim Ga-Eun was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
The other singles players in the team are world No. 37 Sim Yu-jin, world No. 74 Kim Ga-ram and youngster Kim Min-sun.
In the doubles, they have strong options such as world No. 2 Baek Ha-na-Lee So-hee, world No. 6 Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong and Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong (No. 13).
Their toughest challengers will be homesters and 15-time winners China and Japan.
Se-young and her teammates have already booked their spot in the last eight after sweeping aside Denmark, United States and Mexico 5-0 in Group D.
