Badminton Queen’ An Se Young, who has returned to her homeland in full glory, immediately talked about the next competition, the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Championship.
Since winning a gold medal this time would mean making history at the Asian Games for the first time, An Se-young is most likely filled with motivation.
After returning to Korea via Incheon International Airport on the 25th following his return to the top of the world rankings,
An Se young did not hide his determination to win a second consecutive Asian Games title, stating,
“I will play as I always do and as I have prepared.”
On the 23rd, An Se.young won the title by defeating world number two Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) with a landslide score of 2-0 in the women’s singles final of the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships held in New Delhi, India.
Even before the tournament, An Se young was cautious about challenging for the World Champion title due to rehabilitation challenges following a left leg injury.
However, as the rounds progressed, his performance improved and he regained his confidence, beating world-class players one after another to lift the trophy.
After defeating two Chinese rivals—world No. 5 Han Yue in the quarterfinals and world No. 3 Wang Zhiyi in the semifinals—with a score of 2-0, Ahn Se-young also beat Japanese ace Yamaguchi with a score of 2-0 in the final.
His value as a champion shone even more as he achieved a perfect victory, winning 12 of six matches without losing a single one.
After returning to Korea via Incheon International Airport on the 25th, Ahn Se-young met with reporters and said, “I believe that playing with confidence actually determines the course of the match,” adding, “I trust the version of myself that I have trained and try to play with confidence so that I can show the same performance in the match.”
It was judged that self-belief and rising to the challenge—after working hard while undergoing a month of treatment and training despite the injury—led to the significant achievement of returning to the top of the world for the first time in three years from 2023
Regarding the trauma caused by the injury he was worried about before leaving, he said, “Because I was in pain, at first I hesitated a lot in my movements,” adding, “As I continued to play against world-class players, I adapted, and because I reacted subconsciously, I was able to quickly regain my match concentration.”
An Se young is aiming for a new record: to become the first player in the history of Summer Asian Games badminton to win the women’s singles title twice and go on a winning streak. Since women’s singles badminton became an official sport at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, this competition has been held 16 times until the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, setting a unique record where the winner is different each time.
In this event, China has won 8 times, Japan 3 times, Korea 2 times, and Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong have each won once; however, the same player has never reached the top twice.
Therefore, if An Se.young stands at the top of the podium at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and manages to win her second consecutive title after the Hangzhou Asian Games, she will effectively achieve a monumental record, the first of its kind in the history of the Asian Games.
Article Tag: Akane Yamaguchi, Chen Yufei, An Se Young, Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026
Published by Ligaolahraga.com at https://www.ligaolahraga.com/badminton/an-se-young-incar-rekor-64-tahun-di-asian-games-2026