World No. 1 ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in badminton history, defeated her opponent with an overwhelming performance in a competition with the world’s best players and reached the semifinals. Ahn Se-young defeated her opponent in 33 minutes in the second match of the women’s singles Group A against Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th, and secured an early advance to the semifinals with two consecutive wins. Photo Yonhap News
(Reporter Kim Hyun-gi, Xports News) While ‘Badminton Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance, world No. 1) secured an early advance to the semifinals of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals with two consecutive wins, a variable emerged in the battle for the women’s singles title in this tournament, as Chinese players, who are expected to compete in the semifinals and finals, won by forfeit without breaking a sweat.
Ahn Se-young defeated Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan, world No. 9) with a game score of 2-0 (21-9 21-6) in the second match of the women’s singles Group A of the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Final held at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on the 18th (Korean time).
It was so bland that the game was decided in 33 minutes. Ahn Se-young finished the match without much difficulty, except for a brief struggle against Miyazaki at 2-3 in the first game.
In the first game, Ahn Se-young took advantage of Miyazaki’s mistakes and jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the beginning, and continued to widen the score to win 21-9.
Game 2 was even more one-sided. In Japan, Miyazaki, who is nicknamed the ‘Badminton Fairy’ for his neat appearance, frowned at Ahn Se-young’s ceaseless attacks.
In the end, they won by a landslide score of 21-6.
With the win on this day, Ahn Se-young maintained a strong record against Miyazaki with 6 wins in 6 matches.
World No. 1 ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in badminton history, defeated her opponent with an overwhelming performance in a competition with the world’s best players and reached the semifinals. Ahn Se-young defeated her opponent in 33 minutes in the second match of the women’s singles Group A against Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th, and secured an early advance to the semifinals with two consecutive wins. Korea Badminton Association
Ahn Se-young, on a two-game winning streak, was confirmed to advance to the semifinals regardless of the final group match against Akane Yamaguchi (world No. 4) on the 19th.
The day before, Ahn Se-young faced Putri Kusuma Wardani (7th in the world), the ace of badminton powerhouse Indonesia, and won 2-1 after some struggles. By defeating Miyazaki that day, he became a two-game winner.
Miyazaki quickly emerged as a promising star in Japan by winning the 2022 World Junior Championships. The gap in skill between me and Ahn Se-young was still too big.
Yamaguchi also defeated Miyazaki 2-0 on the 17th, followed up with a 2-1 comeback win over Wardani on the 18th, and advanced to the semifinals with two consecutive wins against Ahn Se-young.
Yamaguchi is the current world champion, having won the women’s singles event at the World Championships held in Paris, France last August. At that time, Ahn Se-young was defeated by Chen Yu-fei (China, ranked 5th in the world) with a game score of 0-2 and finished in 3rd place, but Yamaguchi defeated Chen Yu-fei, who had defeated Ahn Se-young, and won the world championship for the third time in his life.
World No. 1 ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in badminton history, defeated her opponent with an overwhelming performance and reached the semifinals in a competition with the world’s best players. Ahn Se-young defeated her opponent in 33 minutes in the second match of the women’s singles Group A against Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th, and secured an early advance to the semifinals with two consecutive wins. Korea Badminton Association
However, Yamaguchi was completely pushed out by Ahn Se-young this year and never won the BWF World Tour Super 1000 or Super 750.
Ahn Se-young and Yamaguchi can face each other again in the semifinals on the 20th through a draw after the final group match on the 19th, so the strategy to win while both fighting with all their might is expected to be fierce.
The two’s record against each other is tight at 15 wins and 15 losses, but if limited to this year, Ahn Se-young has the edge with 4 wins and 1 loss.
Through this tournament, Ahn Se-young will attempt to become the first women’s singles player to win 11 wins in a single season.
Se-young Ahn has already set the record for the most wins in a single season by lifting trophies in 10 tournaments this year, including the Malaysia Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open (Super 1000), India Open, Japan Open, China Masters, Denmark Open, French Open (Super 750), Australian Open (Super 500), and Orleans Masters (Super 300).
World No. 1 ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in badminton history, defeated her opponent with an overwhelming performance in a competition with the world’s best players and reached the semifinals. Ahn Se-young defeated her opponent in 33 minutes in the second match of the women’s singles Group A against Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th, and secured an early advance to the semifinals with two consecutive wins. Korea Badminton Association
If Ahn Se-young wins the World Tour Finals, he will tie the world record for most wins in a single season set by Kento Momoda of Japan in 2019 in men’s singles.
Meanwhile, in this tournament, Thailand’s ace Pornpawi Chochuwong, ranked 6th in the world, withdrew, raising the possibility that the two Chinese players in Group B would advance to the semifinals without difficulty.
Chochuwong defeated Thailand’s Ratchanok Inthanon (world No. 8) on the 17th, but due to a left calf injury, Chochuwong had to withdraw from the entire tournament before meeting Han Yue (China, world No. 3) on the 18th.
Accordingly, the results of the Chochuwong-Inthanon match that took place on the 17th will be completely deleted, and only the results of the match between three players, including Wang Ziyi (China, world 2nd), Han Yue, and Inthanon, will be reflected to determine the 1st and 2nd place in Group B.
World No. 1 ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in badminton history, defeated her opponent with an overwhelming performance in a competition with the world’s best players and reached the semifinals. Ahn Se-young defeated her opponent in 33 minutes in the second match of the women’s singles Group A against Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th, and secured an early advance to the semifinals with two consecutive wins. Korea Badminton Association
Wang Ziyi and Han Yue are expected to advance to the semifinals, but they will be given a break because their match against Cho Chu Wong has been canceled.
Wang Ziyi and Han Yue benefited greatly from the forced march schedule of this competition, which decided the winner after five consecutive days of competition. Ahn Se-young and Yamaguchi were at a physical disadvantage.
Photo = Korea Badminton Association SNS / Yonhap News
Reporter Kim Hyun-ki spitfire@xportsnews.com
