(Reporter Na Seung-woo, Xports News) Will the world number one and the world championship winner clash from the beginning?
With Ahn Se-young (world No. 1) competing in the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals, the season’s king of kings, attention is focused on the results of the draw. This is because there is a possibility that she will face Akane Yamaguchi (Japan, world No. 3), who is considered a candidate to block Ahn Se-young’s dominance in this tournament, from the group stage.
BWF announced that it will hold the World Tour Finals draw ceremony in Hangzhou, China at 11:30 am on the 13th (Korean time).
A total of eight top rankers will participate in this tournament, including world number one An Se-young, second place Wang Zhiyi (China), third place Yamaguchi, and fourth place Han Yue (China).
According to the seeding regulations, No. 1 Ahn Se-young and No. 2 Wang Ziyi are automatically assigned to Group A and Group B, respectively.
What is drawing attention is the lottery results of the remaining players. Yamaguchi, ranked third in the world and this year’s World Championship champion, will be divided into Group A or Group B through a draw along with Hanwe, ranked fourth. The four players at the bottom of the world rankings will enter Group A and Group B, two each.
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This means that there is a 50% chance that Ahn Se-young and Yamaguchi will be in the same group, resulting in a ‘preview finals’.
Yamaguchi is the only player to lose in the finals to Ahn Se-young this year. In the final of the Korea Open held in Suwon on September 28, Ahn Se-young lost to Yamaguchi 0-2 (18-21 13-21) and finished as runner-up in the tournament held at home. He won all 10 remaining finals.
The two players’ overall record against each other is tight at 15 wins and 15 losses. Along with China’s Chen Yufei (14 wins, 14 losses), he has the highest win percentage against Ahn Se-young among players who have faced each other in more than 20 games.
BWF also highlighted, “Yamaguchi is one of the two players, along with Chen Yu-fei, who have a strong record in head-to-head matches against Ahn Se-young. Yamaguchi gave Ahn Se-young his last loss of the season at the Korea Open.” Chen Yufei is ranked 5th in the world, but cannot participate in this competition because the limit of entries per country is two.
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Ahn Se-young had the best season this year, lifting 10 championship trophies, but after winning in 2021, he failed to reach the top at the final stage.
Fans’ attention is focused on the results of the group draw on the 13th to see whether Ahn Se-young, who is attempting to win 11 gold medals for the first time in women’s singles, will begin a difficult journey by meeting her nemesis in the group stage of the competition.
Photo = Yonhap News
Reporter Na Seung-woo winright95@xportsnews.com
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