Ahn Se-young is waiting for the announcement of the BWF Player of the Year Award to be held in Hangzhou, China on the 15th. This year, she will attempt to become the first female athlete to win three games in a row. Photo provided by │Korea Badminton Association
Ahn Se-young is waiting for the announcement of the BWF Player of the Year Award to be held in Hangzhou, China on the 15th. This year, she will attempt to become the first female athlete to win three games in a row. The photo is taken immediately after winning the gold medal at the Denmark Open in October of this year. Odense (Denmark)│AP Newsis
‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance, world No. 1) is attempting to win the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Player of the Year Award for the first time three times in a row.
BWF announced the candidates for the Player of the Year Award on its website on the 7th. Among Korean players, women’s singles Ahn Se-young, men’s doubles Seo Seung-jae (28) – Kim Won-ho (26, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, 1st place), women’s doubles Lee So-hee (31) – Baek Hana (25, Incheon International Airport, 5th place) and Gong Hee-yong (29, Jeonbuk Bank) – Kim Hye-jeong (28, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, 3rd place) were named. The winners will be announced ahead of the 2025 World Tour Finals held in Hangzhou, China, on the 15th.
The Player of the Year award was divided into the male and female Player of the Year, the male and female Doubles Group of the Year, the Best Player Award selected by the players, and the Rising Star of the Year category. Among these, the Player of the Year Award, established in 1998, has been awarded only to singles players since 2020. Ahn Se-young succeeded in winning the women’s player of the year award twice in a row in 2023 and 2024.
If Ahn Se-young succeeds in winning this year’s award, she will become the first female player to win the Player of the Year award three times in a row. In the past, only two men’s players, Lin Dan (China, 2006, 2007, 2008) and Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia, 2009, 2010, 2011), succeeded in winning the Player of the Year award three times in a row. In the women’s division, the two consecutive wins of Hwang Ya-chong (China, retired, 2018, 2019) and Ahn Se-young in mixed doubles were the highest record.
We are fully qualified to write a new history. Ahn Se-young achieved the most wins (10) in women’s singles in a single season at this year’s BWF competition. He showed a world-class performance by winning 10 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals in 18 international competitions this year. The winning rate is also very high at 94.80% (73 wins, 4 losses). While winning 135 games, they gave up only 17 games.
The award criteria are favorable to Ahn Se-young. BWF selects the winners by adding the world ranking points accumulated over the previous 52 weeks and the voting scores of five expert panels. Among these, additional points are given for performances in major international competitions, including the 2024 World Tour Finals. It is unfortunate that Ahn Se-young only won a bronze medal at the World Championships held in Paris, France in August this year, but she achieved good results in other competitions. It is expected that she will be ahead of her competitors Akane Yamaguchi (Japan, 3rd place), Wang Ziyi (2nd place), and Chen Yufei (China, 5th place).
Reporter Kwon Jae-min [email protected]
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