[OSEN=고성환 기자] It is faster than ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance). The team of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho (28, 26, Samsung Life Insurance) created a new history in Korean men’s badminton by lifting the 10th championship trophy in 2025 alone.
The world No. 1 pair Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho defeated Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita (Japan, world No. 29) in the men’s doubles final of the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Kumamoto Masters (Super 500) held at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium in Japan on the 16th (Korean time) with a game score of 2-1 (20-22). They won 21-11 21-16 and rose to the top.
As a result, the two achieved the feat of participating in 16 competitions this season and winning 10 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal. This is a tie for the most wins in a single season. Since the start of the BWF’s current world tour system in 2018, the only duo to achieve 10 doubles wins in a year is China’s Zheng Siwei-Huang Yachong (2022).
Additionally, with this win, the Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho pair won 10 wins in the season, ahead of Ahn Se-young. Ahn Se-young won 9 out of 13 competitions this year, tying the record for most wins in a single season in women’s singles, which she set in 2023, but did not participate in this competition. After recovering his stamina, he will participate in the Australian Open (Super 500), which begins on the 17th, aiming for his 10th win.
It was a pleasant comeback victory. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho attempted to win in a clean set without giving up a single game until the semifinals, but the final was not easy as expected. The two players conceded the first game point, conceding four consecutive runs at 16-16 after a see-saw game. After that, they scored 4 points to make it 20-20 deuce, but eventually gave up the first game at 20-22.
I was no longer shaken. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho set the tone with overwhelming wins in two games. From the beginning, they went on to score 5 consecutive points and ran away to 8-1. After that, they won two games, 21-11, without a single crisis and balanced the game.
Last 3 games. The pair of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho did not give up the flow with stable play, and widened the gap by scoring 6 points in a row at 8-6.
The Japanese group’s counterattack was also formidable. Down 17-12, they were down 4 points and even trailed by one point. But it ended there. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho successfully attacked twice at 19-16, confirming their 10th win. The two once again smiled brightly together with director Park Joo-bong.
The team of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho continues the lineage of Korean badminton men’s doubles. As soon as the two formed a doubles team, they are writing a page in history by surpassing the records of legends such as Park Joo-bong and Kim Moon-soo, Kim Dong-moon and Ha Tae-kwon, and Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong.
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho are players who have achieved a lot in mixed doubles. The two were paired with Chae Yu-jeong and Jeong Na-eun, respectively, and faced each other in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics last year. The pair of Won-ho Kim and Na-eun Jeong advanced to the finals and won the silver medal. However, Seo Seung-jae decided to focus only on men’s doubles starting this year, and formed a group with Kim Won-ho again for the first time in seven years last January.
Afterwards, Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho became the world’s strongest team. The two are on a winning streak after beating China’s Chen Boyang and Liu Yi to the top at the Malaysia Open (Super 1000) last January. He also won the German Open (Super 300) in February and the All England Open (Super 1000) in March, as well as the Indonesia Open (Super 1000) in June and the Japan Open (Super 750) in July.
The two players’ chemistry also shined at the World Individual Badminton Championships. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho solidified their position as the strongest by defeating the team of Cheon Boyang and Liu Yi, who met again. Following the China Masters (Super 750) and Korea Open (Super 500) held in September, and the French Open (Super 750) in October, he also reached the top at the Japan Open.
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho boast 67 wins, 7 losses, and a 90.54% win rate in 74 games in 2025. Their next goal is to win the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
The World Tour Finals is a ‘King of Kings’ competition in which the eight players (teams) with the best performance in this year’s international competition clash. If Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho win the trophy here, they can catch up to Japan’s Kento Momota’s record of 11 wins in a single season. Like Ahn Se-young, the team of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho are challenging badminton history.
[사진] Korean Badminton Association.
