Badminton Empress, confirmed first place in group with overwhelming skills, breaking season’s highest winning percentage
| Photo = Ahn Se-young [AFP=연합뉴스] |
[알파경제=박병성 기자] Ahn Se-young, world number one in badminton women’s singles, has confirmed her advancement to the semifinals of the World Tour Finals, also known as the ‘Battle of Kings.’ In addition, Ahn Se-young set a record of the highest winning percentage in history in a single season.
Se-young Ahn defeated Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki (9th in the world tour rankings) of Japan 2-0 (21-9, 21-6) in 33 minutes in the second match of Group A of the women’s singles group stage held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 18th.
With this victory, Ahn Se-young participated in 15 competitions this season, played a total of 69 games, won 65 games, and recorded an incredible winning rate of 94.2%. This corresponds to the highest winning percentage ever in a single season among women’s singles players who have played more than 60 games.
The game was one-sided. Ahn Se-young set the tone early in the first game by scoring consecutive points in a 2-3 situation, and then took the lead by scoring 7 points in a row. In the end, they easily won the first game 21-9.
In the second game, they showed even more overwhelming performance. Ahn Se-young took control early on, scoring 6 points in a row at the start of the game. The game ended cleanly, allowing only 6 points to the opponent.
Ahn Se-young, who previously defeated Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani 2-1 in the first game, earned her second win and moved up to first place in the group with this win. Although she has the same number of wins as Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi (No. 4 in the World Tour rankings), she has an advantage in the set, leading 32-19.
This competition, in which the top 8 players in the World Tour rankings participate, is divided into groups A and B of 4 players, and the top 2 players from each group advance to the semifinals to determine the winner. If the number of wins is the same, the ranking is determined by considering the set gain and loss and point gain and loss in the entire match, similar to goal difference in soccer.
Miyazaki was 9th in the World Tour rankings, but was given the opportunity to play in place of Chen Yufei (5th), who was absent due to the rule that only a maximum of two players from a country can participate. However, they lost to Ahn Se-young, recording their second consecutive loss, and were pushed to the bottom of their group, confirming early elimination from the group stage.
If Ahn Se-young, who has already won 10 trophies this season, wins this tournament, she will tie the record for most wins in a single season with Japanese men’s singles player Kento Momota. Ahn Se-young will face Yamaguchi in the third match held on the 19th.
Reporter Park Byeong-seong of Alpha Economy (star@alphabiz.co.kr)
