Ahn Se-young: Badminton’s New Pressure & China’s Challenge

[OSEN=우충원 기자] Ahn Se-young has once again overcome her ‘nemesis’. At the threshold of the finals, she completely defeated Akane Yamaguchi, who was considered the most difficult wall, leaving her just one step away from winning the championship.

Ahn Se-young defeated Yamaguchi 2-0 (21-15, 21-12) in the women’s singles semifinals of the BWF World Tour Finals 2025 held at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in China on the 20th (Korean time). It was a game that clearly showed superiority not only in score but also in content.

The fact that they were somewhat shaken by losing 1 game to Yamaguchi in the 3rd game of Group A the previous day was not visible in the semifinals. Ahn Se-young controlled the flow throughout the game and displayed high-quality play, calmly accumulating points in each game. The final hurdle toward the finals was passed in the most stable manner.

With this win, Ahn Se-young took the lead against Yamaguchi with 17 wins and 15 losses. Because of the tight record of 15 wins and 15 losses before the tournament, Ahn Se-young was evaluated as being particularly weak against Yamaguchi. In fact, even immediately after the semifinal matchup was confirmed, predictions were pouring in that “the semifinals could be more difficult than the finals.”

At that time, the gaze was clear. In the finals, they would face one of China’s Wang Ziyi and Thailand’s Ratchanok Inthanon. Considering compatibility and play style, the prevailing analysis was that Yamaguchi was a more difficult opponent than his final opponent.

Ahn Se-young erased that burden with the results. It was a close match for a while in the middle of the first game, but the team gradually gained the upper hand in the rally fight and brought the atmosphere to a close. In the next two games, they took the lead from the beginning and blocked the opponent’s will to chase. Yamaguchi was not even allowed a chance to attempt a reversal.

The final opponent was decided to be Wang Ziyi. Although the match between the world rankings 1st and 2nd was concluded, if you look at the opponent’s record alone, the weight is tilted towards Ahn Se-young. Ahn Se-young has a large lead over Wang Zhiyi with 15 wins and 4 losses, and in particular, she has won all 7 of their meetings this year alone.

This trend also became a hot topic in China. China’s Shangguan newspaper said, “If in the past Chinese men’s soccer suffered from phobias, now that shadow has moved to women’s badminton,” and “Wang Zhiyi is also carrying a psychological burden in front of Ahn Se-young.” Although the expression was different, it was an acknowledgment of Ahn Se-young’s position in the current women’s badminton landscape.

Ahn Se-young, who has overcome her arch-nemesis and even her natural enemy, now has just one game left to reach the summit. The trend that continues in Hangzhou is not a simple challenge to win, but is closer to the process of rewriting the order of women’s badminton. / [email protected]

Woo Choong-won ([email protected])