Badminton queen Ahn Se-young. Yonhap News
Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) is on the verge of winning this year’s Badminton King of Kings Championship. If she surpasses Wang Zhiyi (China), who has 7 wins against her opponent this year, she will rewrite world badminton history.
Se-young Ahn defeated Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) in the women’s singles semifinals of the ‘Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2025’ held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 20th. Ahn Se-young, No. 1 in the World Tour rankings, defeated Yamaguchi, No. 4, with a game score of 2-0 (21-15 21-12) in 38 minutes.
Ahn Se-young, who participated in 15 competitions this year, is attempting to win her 11th championship. In the finals on the 21st, Ahn Se-young faces 2nd place Wang Zhiyi, but she has met 7 times this year and won all of them. Ahn Se-young’s previous record against opponents is 15 wins and 4 losses.
BWF also paid attention to whether Ahn Se-young won. On the 20th, BWF published an article titled ‘A million dollar record is calling for Ahn Se-young’ on its official website. We highlighted the record that Ahn Se-young will set if she wins this competition.
If Ahn Se-young defeats Wang Zhi-yi and wins, she will surpass $1 million in prize money in a season for the first time in history. Prior to the King of Kings, Ahn Se-young received prize money of $763,175 (approximately 1.13 billion won) this year, and if she receives $240,000 in prize money for winning this tournament, she will exceed $1 million.
According to BWF, Ahn Se-young has already earned the highest prize money in a single season. Second place is Wang Zhiyi with $505,465.
Ahn Se-young ranks first among both men and women in cumulative prize money. According to BWF, Ahn Se-young’s career total of $2,329,466 surpassed Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)’s $2,284,569 in men’s singles. Third place went to retired Tai Tzu-ying (Taiwan) with $2,185,198, and fourth place went to Yamaguchi with $2,154,610. The remaining players make no more than $2 million.
Ahn Se-young’s game. Yonhap News
Additionally, Ahn Se-young sets the record for the most wins in a single season. If Ahn Se-young, who reached the summit for the 10th time this year, wins again, she will stand on par with Kento Momota (Japan)’s 11th win in the men’s division in 2019.
Ahn Se-young has won 10 competitions in 2023. I also set the record for the most individual wins in this competition. Ahn Se-young’s team and fellow men’s doubles team members Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life Insurance) are attempting to win 11 wins, the most in a doubles season ever.
In addition, Ahn Se-young is aiming to break the highest single-season winning percentage of over 60 games since the Super Series and World Tour era. Ahn Se-young has already set a record of 94.73% (72 wins, 4 losses) with a victory in the semifinals. This record surpasses the 92.75% (64 wins, 5 losses) of already retired legend Lin Dan (China) in 2011 and Lee Chongwei (Malaysia) in 2010.
If Ahn Se-young wins in the finals, she will break her own record. The highest winning percentage of all time is set at 94.80% (73 wins, 4 losses). Axelsen recorded a winning percentage of 94.44% in 2022, but did not exceed 60 games with 51 wins and 3 losses.
Ahn Se-young is rewriting badminton history this year. It remains to be seen whether 2025 will be able to end on a grand note.
