Denmark Open: Paris Olympics gold medalist ignores coach

An Se-young had fans talking after appearing to ignore her coach during the clash against Ratchanok Intanon, whom she came from behind to beat and advance to the Denmark Open quarter-finals.

The South Korean was making her first appearance since winning the women’s singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics, and she showed her usual battling spirit to beat Intanon 17-21, 21-18, 21-14.

But An's victory came with a surprise, after she looked to have completely snubbed her coach Sung Ji-hyun who was talking to her during the second game interval.

The world number two was taking a water break while Sung spoke, but did not acknowledge the former shuttler who stopped speaking shortly after and left.

An's cold shoulder towards Sung comes after she made some stunning declarations about the Korea Badminton Association (BKA) right after winning at the Olympics.

The 2023 world champion claimed her long-standing injury was mismanaged by the association, and also pointed that younger players including herself were made to perform chores for the senior shuttlers such as stringing their racquets, cleaning their rooms and doing their laundry.

An's remarks led to the country’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to launch an investigation against the BKA, an investigation that is still ongoing.

Another one of An’s criticism of the BKA was the fact that shuttlers must only choose footwear from brands that sponsor the association.

Due to that, she was forced to wear shoes that were a bad fit for her and gave her blisters which affected her performance.

Photos of her damaged feet were even presented during a parliament hearing, and as a result the 22-year-old has now been granted exemption to wear the shoes of her choice at the Denmark Open.