An Se-young of South Korea celebrates after beating He Bingjiao of China for the gold medal in the women's singles badminton event at the Paris Olympics at Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris, Monday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Moments after capturing her first Olympic gold medal in Paris on Monday, South Korean badminton player An Se-young blasted the national team over its poor handling of her knee injury over the past several months.

An defeated He Bingjiao of China 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) in the women's singles final at Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris. It came about 10 months after An tore a ligament in her right knee during the Asian Games women's singles final in China.

The 22-year-old returned to action about a month later in November but went through an up-and-down stretch leading up to the Paris Olympics. Then after winning the gold medal, An accused the national team staff of not taking her injury seriously at first.

"My injury was more serious than initially thought and would take a while to heal. But the national team took it lightly and I can't forget how disappointed I was with that," An said. "From this moment on, I even think it'll be difficult for me to continue on with the national team."

An claimed that her personal trainer on the national team worked so hard to help An realize her Olympic dream while also trying not to ruffle feathers within the national team.

An said there was a misdiagnosis of her condition and she kept on playing despite pain. Right after the Asian Games in October, the national team said An would only need two to five weeks of rehab.

When An underwent further tests at the end of the year, the situation turned out to be far more serious — to a point that An would have to play through pain in the Olympics.

When asked if she was retiring from the national team, An demurred and said, "I want to keep going for the good of badminton in Korea and for my own accomplishments, but I don't know what the national federation will do. As long as I can play badminton, I feel like I can endure any situation."

Not being on the national team may mean not having a chance to compete at the next Olympics, but An said, "It would be too heartless if they kept players from competing at the Olympics just because they're not on the national team."

Hours after making these comments, An took to social media to clarify that she was not about to quit playing.

"I hope people don't misinterpret my comments using the word retirement," An wrote on her Instagram. "I only wanted to talk about how players have to be protected and managed, and about having communication. I am not trying to fight people. This is about protecting players."

An added, "I hope there are grown-ups out there who want to listen to what I have to say and solve these problems." (Yonhap)