Ahn Se-young Never Allowed a Lead Even Once

Korean First to Win Singles at Badminton World Championships
'11 Consecutive Points in 2nd Set' Defeats No. 6 Ranked Marin
Seo Seungjae and Chae Yujeong Win Mixed Doubles Title After 20 Years

"World No. 1" An Se-young (21, Samsung Life Insurance) claimed the world championship singles title for the first time ever by a Korean badminton player with a dominant performance.

On the 27th (Korean time), An Se-young defeated world No. 6 Carolina Marin (30, Spain) 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) in the final of the World Championships held at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. An Se-young only allowed three ties throughout the match and never relinquished the lead, finishing the match in 42 minutes. Notably, she scored 11 consecutive points from a 10-10 tie in the second set to decisively close out the match, leaving a strong impression.

Se-young An [Photo by Yonhap News]

Since the tournament began in 1977 and marked its 28th edition this year, An Se-young is the first Korean player to win the singles title. Previously, Korean players Bang Soo-hyun in women's singles (1993) and Park Sung-woo in men's singles (1995) reached the finals but had to settle for runner-up. Known as the Thomas Cup, this tournament was held every three years from 1977 to 1983, every two years from 1985 to 2003, and annually since 2005 except in Olympic years.

An Se-young was eliminated in the quarterfinals and semifinals in the 2021 and last year's tournaments, respectively, losing both times to her "rival" Akane Yamaguchi (Japan). Yamaguchi was defeated by Marin in the semifinals this time and failed to advance to the final.

Marin is a formidable player who dominated women's badminton in the 2010s and reached world No. 1. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and has conquered the World Championships three times (2014, 2015, 2018). She aimed for her fourth world championship title this time but could not overcome the current strongest player, An Se-young. With this victory, An Se-young extended her winning streak against Marin to five consecutive matches.

An Se-young is also a strong gold medal contender at the Hangzhou Asian Games starting on the 23rd of next month. This victory marked her eighth title of the year. She has participated in 12 tournaments this year, reaching the finals 11 times, with 8 wins and 3 runner-up finishes.

An Se-young was first selected for the national team in 2017 when she was in the third year of middle school. At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, her first major competition, she showed inexperience and was eliminated in the round of 32 in her opening match. However, she rose rapidly, becoming the first Korean player to receive the BWF Rookie of the Year award in 2019, and last month, she overtook Yamaguchi to become the first Korean since Bang Soo-hyun to reach world No. 1.

Seungjae Seo (left) and Yujeong Chae [Photo by Yonhap News]

In the mixed doubles final held earlier, a gold medal was won for the first time in 20 years. The world No. 5 mixed doubles pair Seo Seung-jae (Samsung Life Insurance) and Chae Yoo-jung (Incheon International Airport) defeated world No. 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong (China) 2-1 (21-17, 10-21, 21-18) to claim the title. Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung became the first Korean pair to win gold since Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min in 2003. Since then, Korean mixed doubles pairs had never reached the finals and had to settle for three bronze medals.

Before this match, Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung had never beaten Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, suffering nine consecutive losses, but they achieved a remarkable victory in their tenth encounter, securing the first championship in 20 years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.