Ahn Se-young: Mindset & Quarterfinal Victory | Badminton News

[스포티비뉴스=장하준 기자] Ahn Se-young (24, Samsung Life Insurance), who reigns as the world’s strongest women’s singles player, is taking the court with herself on the edge from the first competition of the 2026 season. Even after achieving overwhelming results last year, they appear not to be satisfied.

World No. 1 Ahn Se-young defeated Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara (ranked 30th) 2-0 (21-17, 21-7) in the women’s singles round of 16 of the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Malaysia Open (Super 1000) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 8th. The game was concluded in just 37 minutes, and advancement to the quarterfinals was confirmed with an uneven performance.

Regardless of the content of the game, the intentions revealed by Ahn Se-young were heavier than expected. In an interview delivered through the Korea Badminton Association, he confessed, “I was very worried about myself because I could not play properly in the first match of the round of 32. The psychological burden was also considerable.”

The first match he mentioned was the round of 32 against Canada’s Michelle Lee (ranked 12th). Ahn Se-young got off to an uneasy start, losing the first game and losing the flow. After holding on for 75 minutes on the court, they achieved a hard-fought comeback victory, but it was assessed that their body looked heavy until the second half of the game. Naturally, there were concerns that the fatigue from the forced march that continued until the last competition of the season had not been washed away.

The shaky appearance from the beginning of the year was also a matter of pride for Ahn Se-young. He said he decided to focus on just one thing ahead of the round of 16. “I decided not to look at anything else. I only cared about today’s game, this one game. I tried to play with the thought that there was no tomorrow,” he explained. In fact, it was the mindset of the finals.

This toxic attitude was clearly revealed in the game. They accumulated points without hesitation in the early stages, and even in situations where the opponent’s momentum briefly revived, they did not lose the initiative by pushing both defense and attack at the same time. In game 2, it was so overwhelming that the score gap widened to 18-4 at one point. It was breathtaking energy and tempo that erased the shakiness of the first game.

After the game, I didn’t forget to give courtesy. Ahn Se-young said of Okuhara, who is considered to be past his prime, “He still shows the skills of a world champion. There is a lot to learn from his footwork and technique.” It was a scene that once again showed that he is not a player with only a competitive spirit.

The most powerful sentence among his remarks was “There is no tomorrow.” It is a kind of signal to competitors in the race to the quarterfinals and finals that has already begun. Ahn Se-young surprised those around him by setting this year’s goal of “undefeated season”, a goal that even the player himself would find burdensome. This is an expression that an average player would not easily say.

Even after achieving the unprecedented achievement of winning 11 gold medals in the 2025 season, he continued to push himself. The intention is to go beyond winning three consecutive titles at the Malaysia Open and dominate the entire season. Looking at last year’s performance alone, he is already at the top, but even at the top, he is preparing for the next game by pushing himself into the danger zone.

The Malaysia Open is the first tournament of the 2026 season. Local and domestic badminton officials are paying attention to Ahn Se-young, who is already playing with a sense of crisis on the first stage, whether the ‘season of fear’ will begin once again.