(Reporter Lee Woo-jin, Xports News) South Korea’s Ahn Se-young, the world’s best badminton women’s singles player, had a strong 2025 season and received rave reviews from Malaysia, a world powerhouse in the sport. The expression that he is one step closer to the state of ‘immortality’ has been left behind.
Now, the task remains to manage the murder schedule that is increasingly threatening him.
Ahn Se-young won the championship by defeating China’s Wang Zhiyi, ranked second in the world, with a game score of 2-1 (21-13 18-21 21-10) in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Final 2025 women’s singles final held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 21st.
The Southeast Asian media is praising Ahn Se-young every day after seeing her life and death in badminton.
Malaysia’s leading daily newspaper ‘The Star’ reported on the 25th (Korean time) that “Ahn Se-young is a player who can reach the realm of ‘immortality’ in badminton history,” and that she “can stand shoulder to shoulder with China’s men’s singles legend Lin Dan.”
It is significant in that it is not a simple compliment, but a cool-headed evaluation based on records and performance.
The media defined Ahn Se-young’s 2025 season as “one of the best seasons in women’s singles history.”
In fact, Ahn Se-young achieved overwhelming results in this season’s BWF World Tour by winning a whopping 11 titles, including winning the finals.
Starting with the first tournament in January, the Malaysia Open, three Super 1000 tournaments including the All England Open and Indonesia Open, five Super 750 tournaments including the India Open, Japan Open, China Masters, Denmark Open, and French Open, the Australian Open, a Super 500 tournament, and the Orleans Masters, a Super 300 tournament, were included in his list of championships this year.
In addition, he recorded 73 wins and 4 losses in a total of 77 matches, including 5 singles matches at the Sudirman Cup, this year’s mixed team world championship, with a win rate of 94.8%, setting a new world record for the highest win rate in a single season.
He also achieved the feat of exceeding $1 million (KRW 1.5 billion) in prize money in a single season for the first time in badminton history.
‘The Star’ also noted that Ahn Se-young achieved a season win rate close to 95%, recording figures that were comparable to those of male players such as Lin Dan and Kento Momota (Japan) in their prime.
Ahn Se-young’s game management ability was also a subject of praise. The analysis is that he is a “close to the perfect player,” with defensive skills based on quick footwork, stamina that does not waver even in long rallies, and offensive choices that boldly take the lead when necessary. He also added that the way the game is managed by erasing the opponent’s strengths is reminiscent of Lin Dan in his prime.
However, they still maintained a cautious view on the modifier ‘the second Lin Dan’.
As Lin Dan dominated the Olympics and World Championships by staying at the top of the world for a long time, winning two consecutive Olympics and five World Championships, the reason is that Ahn Se-young must also prove her long-term dominance beyond short-term achievements. Injury management, schedule coordination, and consistently maintaining top-level skills despite pressure were identified as future tasks.
Nevertheless, ‘The Star’ gave a positive evaluation, saying, “If you look at the current trend, Ahn Se-young is already rewriting the standards for women’s badminton.”
As the world’s badminton world is reorganizing its focus around Ahn Se-young, everyone’s attention is focused on whether she will be able to establish herself as a ‘historic player’ beyond a simple ‘power of the times’.
Seyoung Ahn is now forgetting 2025 and looking toward 2026. This is because I leave the country on the last day of the year without any time to rest.
The Korea Badminton Association said, “The Korean badminton team is scheduled to participate in the Malaysia Open and India Open early this year.”
According to a notice from the Badminton Association, national team players including Ahn Se-young will head to Malaysia on the night of December 31, the last day of this year. We are preparing to participate in the Malaysia Open (Super 1000), which will be held from January 6th in Malaysia. After the Malaysia Open, they will move to South Asia to play the India Open (Super 750), which will be held in New Delhi, India on January 13th.
Ahn Se-young is required to participate in four Super 1000 competitions, six Super 750 competitions, and two Super 500 competitions in the new year, and will also participate in the World Championships and World Tour Finals. In addition, they are scheduled to participate in the Asian Championships and Uber Cup (Women’s Team World Championships) in April, and the Asian Games in September. There is also a possibility of participating in the German Open (Super 300), which is held right before the All England Open (Super 1000) in March.
A truly murderous schedule awaits Ahn Se-young from early January to the end of December, and she leaves on the last day of December.
The Malaysia Open and India Open, in which Ahn Se-young participates this time, are tournaments where the BWF stipulates mandatory participation for women’s singles ranked No. 1 to 15 in the world, so Ahn Se-young must participate in the competition as long as she is not injured.
Photo = Yonhap News
Reporter Woojin Lee wzyfooty@xportsnews.com
