Ahn Se-young: Tough Draw & Potential Finals Opponents

[마이데일리 = 김경현 기자] Ahn Se-young will have to face an uphill battle starting from her first competition in 2026.

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) released the World Tour Malaysia Open (Super 1000) bracket on the 30th. Ahn Se-young must win a total of 5 times, starting with the round of 32, to win the championship.

The first opponent is world number 12 Michelle Lee (Canada). The win rate in 2025 is 60% (30/50). He faced Ahn Se-young eight times and lost in all of them. Ahn Se-young is expected to win easily in the round of 32.

From the round of 16, we meet a difficult enemy. Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) will face the winner of the Pi Yupo (Taiwan) match. Okuhara ranked 30th and Yupo ranked 67th. Okuhara is a powerhouse who once ranked first. He previously won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships. It is expected that Okuhara will join Ahn Se-young.

It is highly likely that we will meet Chinese players one after another starting from the quarterfinals. The opponent in the quarterfinals is expected to be Hanyue (China). Han Yue’s opponent, Kim Ga-eun (Hangu), and Han Chen-xi (China) and Rine Kersfeld (Denmark), who are on the other side of the bracket, are also great players. However, Hanwe, ranked 5th, is too big in weight class.

If they defeat Han Yue, Chen Yufei (China) awaits them in the semifinals. Chen Yufei is the player who dominated women’s badminton before Ahn Se-young. Starting with their first meeting at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, he reigned as Ahn Se-young’s natural enemy, winning 7 consecutive wins. He lost to Ahn Se-young at the 2022 Malaysia Masters and handed the throne to Ahn Se-young. The current world ranking is 4th. A force that cannot be ignored.

It appears that either Wang Ziyi (China) or Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) will advance to the finals.

Wang Zhiyi is currently ranked second in the world. Except for Ahn Se-young, there are no opponents. However, in terms of opponent’s record, Ahn Se-young is significantly ahead with 16 wins and 4 losses. Recently, in the World Tour Finals 2025, Ahn Se-young won with a set score of 2-1 (21-13 18-21 21-10).

Yamaguchi, ranked 3rd, is the pride of Japan. The opponent’s record is 17 wins and 15 losses, with Ahn Se-young slightly ahead. Ahn Se-young dominates the recent trend. In 2025, they faced each other 7 times and Ahn Se-young won 6 times. However, at the Suwon Victory Korea Open 2025 held in the home room, Yamaguchika defeated Ahn Se-young 0-2 (18-21 13-21).

Ahn Se-young takes on a great challenge in 2026. This season, he won 11 singles gold medals, had a winning percentage of 94.8% (73/77), and won $1 million in prize money. It is tied for the most wins in a single season, and both winning percentage and prize money are first in history.

I am determined to overcome all of these. After finishing the finals of the World Tour Finals 2025, he said on social media, “I am so moved that I wonder if this is true. It was a truly amazing year. I am very proud of the fact that I won 11 titles during this season. I want to come back stronger in 2026 and break more records.”

Meanwhile, the Malaysia Open will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on January 6, 2026.