Ahn Se-young: Badminton Champion & New Career Path

(Xports News Reporter Kim Jeong-hyun) Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), the world’s best badminton women’s singles player, will now challenge to the top in Asia with her teammates on the national team.

The Korean badminton team, led by coach Park Joo-bong, departs for Qingdao, China through Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 1st.

The badminton team will participate in the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships to be held at the Kon Son Gymnasium in Qingdao, China, starting on the 3rd.

The Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Championships began in Hyderabad, India with the first competition in 2016 and is now in its 6th year.

Korea will have 10 male and female athletes participating in this competition.

The women’s national team consists of 10 members, including Ahn Se-young, Kim Ga-eun, Kim Min-ji, Kim Hye-jeong, Lee Yeon-woo (Samsung Life Insurance), Lee So-hee, Baek Hana, Lee Seo-jin (Incheon International Airport), Park Ga-eun (Gimcheon City Hall), and Gong Hee-yong (Jeonbuk Bank).

The men’s national team consists of 10 players, including Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae, Choi Ji-hoon (Samsung Life Insurance), Yoo Tae-bin, Jo Hyun-woo (Gimcheon City Hall), Park Sang-yong, Jin-yong (Yonex), Kang Min-hyuk (Armed Forces Athletic Corps), Ki Dong-ju (Incheon International Airport), and Cho Song-hyeon (Gwangju Bank).

In this competition, which is held every two years, Korea’s men’s national team took third place in 2024, but the women’s national team did not participate in the Asian competition because it automatically qualified for the next Uber Cup finals by winning the previously held 2022 World Women’s Team Championship (Uber Cup).

Korea will challenge for its first-ever victory in this tournament with its elite team.

In addition, if they advance to the semifinals of this competition, they will receive the right to participate in the Thomas Cup (Men’s World Team Championship) and Uber Cup, which will open in Horsens, Denmark on April 24.

Neither Korea’s men’s nor women’s teams have ever won the championship. Korea’s best results in the men’s and women’s divisions of this competition are bronze medals (2016, 2018, 2022, 2024) and silver medals (2020, 2022), respectively. The men’s team has never even advanced to the finals. The women’s division has never won. I have a strong will to write new history this year.

Korea is considered a strong candidate to win this competition. The reason is that China and Japan, the strongest competitors, do not appear as elite members.

China, Korea’s strongest opponent and home team, is missing Ahn Se-young’s rivals in the women’s singles, including Wang Zhiyi (world’s 2nd), Chen Yufei (world’s 4th), and Han Yue (world’s 5th). Switch (world No. 1), the strongest men’s singles player, will also not participate, and the women’s doubles powerhouse Ryu Seong-su and Tanning (world No. 1) will not appear. In fact, it is a second-tier military force.

Gao Fangjie (ranked 11th in the world) in women’s singles, who is 178cm tall, as well as the team of Jaifan and Zhang Shushan, who are gold medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics and four-time world champions in women’s doubles, are attracting attention.

Japan’s top stars, including Akane Yamaguchi (#3 in the world) and women’s doubles Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, will all be absent.

Ahn Se-young, who took a break in Korea after winning two consecutive titles at the Malaysia Open (Super 1000) and India Open (Super 750) in early January, will now challenge for her second team gold medal in history with her teammates in the team event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Perhaps it is a knock on victory that is more difficult than the individual competition. For Ahn Se-young, winning a gold medal in the team event seems to have a special meaning.