[OSEN=강필주 기자] Seyoung Ahn (24, Samsung Life Insurance) revealed her concerns about maintaining her overwhelming title as world leader.
In an interview published on the Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s official YouTube channel ‘BWF TV’ on the 2nd (Korean time), Ahn Se-young revealed that the “frustration” she felt at the 2025 World Championships held in Paris, France in August last year was the stimulus for her overwhelming performance last season.
Seyoung Ahn defeated Wang Zhiyi (25, China) 2-1 in the women’s singles final at last year’s ‘World Tour Finals’ to win her 11th title of the season, tying the record for most wins in a season. In addition, he achieved the milestone of exceeding $1 million in prize money in a single season for the first time in badminton history.
In particular, Ahn Se-young broke the record of 92.7% held by ‘legends’ Lin Dan (China) and Lee Chong-wei (Malaysia) with a season win rate of 94.8% (73 wins, 4 losses), an astonishing figure. Through this, Ahn Se-young was recognized as ‘GOAT (Greatest Of All Time, Greatest Player of All Time)’ in name and reality.
However, Ahn Se-young remembered frustration rather than glory. Seyoung Ahn lost 0-2 (15-21, 17-21) to Chen Yufei (28, China) in the semifinals of the World Championships.
Recalling that time, Ahn Se-young said, “I think I had a lot of frustrating thoughts. I think I tried to relieve those frustrations through practice again,” and expressed her determination, saying, “Of course, as a player, I want to win many titles. Now, I want to achieve what I called a Grand Slam again.”
Ahn Se-young is trying to maintain a stable style of play. Seyoung Ahn emphasized, “For now, my big goal is to create a way to use my fly style stably and quickly.”
He added, “Because this is not something that can be created overnight, I think we just have to keep testing and keep working until we get results.”
For this purpose, changes were made to the training method. Ahn Se-young confessed, “I do a lot of sparring with male players to change my playing style. This is because male players can practice a little faster than female players.”
Ahn Se-young’s focus and improvement was attack rather than defense. Se-young Ahn explained, “I think the most important thing for me to do is to maintain my current defensive ability and stamina while allowing myself to grow even a little more.”
In particular, Se-young Ahn said, “Opponents bring many tactics and many play styles to beat me,” and “I always try to be aware of those players and prepare for them. I also try to make more efforts and change my play style to suit the opponent.” /letmeout@osen.co.kr
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