Ahn Se-young, who won the King of Kings Tournament this year, takes a commemorative photo with the championship trophy. Yonhap News
‘Badminton Queen’ Ahn Se-young became the first player in history to exceed $1 million in prize money in a single season, setting a record for the most wins in a single season. Men’s doubles Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life Insurance) also stood shoulder to shoulder with Ahn Se-young, and women’s doubles Lee So-hee and Baek Hana (Incheon International Airport) achieved their second consecutive victory in the King of Kings.
Ahn Se-young defeated Wang Zhiyi (China) in the women’s singles final of the ‘Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals 2025’ held at the Olympic Sports Center in Hangzhou, China on the 21st. World Tour World No. 1 Ahn Se-young defeated No. 2 Wang Zhiyi with a game score of 2-1 (21-13 18-21 21-10) after a close match that lasted 1 hour and 36 minutes to take the top spot.
In addition to the winning prize of $240,000, Ahn Se-young took this year’s prize money to $1,003,175 (about 1.49 billion won). Ahn Se-young is the first person to win $1 million in badminton prize money.
Ahn Se-young ranked first in cumulative prize money. Even before winning this tournament, Ahn Se-young had a total of $2,329,466, ahead of Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)’s $2,284,569 in men’s singles. By winning this tournament, Ahn Se-young’s total earnings exceeded 2.56 million dollars.
In addition, Ahn Se-young reached the summit 11 times this year, setting the record for the most wins in a female player’s season. In the men’s division, he tied the record for most wins set by Japan’s Kento Momota in 2019. Ahn Se-young previously won three Super 1000 series (Malaysia Open, All England Open, Indonesia Open), six Super 750 series (India Open, Japan Open, China Open, Denmark Open, French Open, and Australian Open) and the Orleans Masters, a Super 300 tournament.
It also broke the highest winning percentage of any season. With this win, Ahn Se-young recorded a winning percentage of 94.8% with 73 wins and 4 losses, surpassing her previous record of 94.73% set by winning the semifinals. Previously, Axelsen recorded a winning rate of 94.44% in 2022, but did not exceed 60 games in the season with 51 wins and 3 losses. Ahn Se-young already surpassed the 92.75% (64 wins, 5 losses) of retired badminton legend Lin Dan (China) in 2011 and Lee Chong-wei (Malaysia) in 2010.
Seungjae Seo (left), who won 12 men’s doubles titles this year, and Wonho Kim, who won 11 times together. Yonhap News
Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho also joined the ranks of incredible records. The two defeated China’s Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang in the men’s doubles final with a game score of 2-0 (21-18 21-14).
It was her 11th win this year, putting her on par with Ahn Se-young. This is the most wins in doubles history. Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho paired up in January of this year and rewrote badminton history.
In particular, this is Seo Seung-jae’s 12th win of the season. Seo Seung-jae also reached the top at the BWF World Tour Super 300 Thailand Masters with Jin Yong (Yonex) earlier this year.
Women’s doubles Baek Ha-na (left) and Lee So-hee. Yonhap News
Lee So-hee and Baek Hana also teamed up to win the women’s doubles title. In the final on this day, they defeated Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto with a game score of 2-0 (21-17 21-11).
This is the second consecutive win in this competition, which is like a battle of kings in which only the top eight players (groups) in the world tour rankings participate. This is the second Korean player to do so after the current Korean Badminton Association President Kim Dong-moon and Korea National Sport University professor Na Kyung-min, who reached the top in 1998 and 1999 during the Grand Prix Final.
Lee So-hee and Baek Hana completed the season by overcoming a whopping 156 back-and-forth rallies. The Korean national team opened a golden era by winning three championships in this tournament, including women’s singles, doubles, and men’s doubles.
