Ahn Se-young: New Era of Badminton Dominance | zum news

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◆The first overwhelming world ranking that goes beyond events

In the history of Korean sports, there were ‘empresses’ who thrilled the hearts of the entire nation with just three letters of their names. Se-ri Pak, who gave hope with her ‘barefoot fighting spirit’ in the pain of the IMF foreign exchange crisis, Yu-na Kim, who miraculously appeared in Korea, which was a figure skating periphery, and turned it into an art on the ice, and even the queen of ice speed, Lee Sang-hwa, who dominated the ice with overwhelming explosive power. Although they were in different sports and eras, they had something in common. Beyond being a technician who simply pursued victory, he was an icon of the era who instilled national pride in the belief that ‘we can do it.’

And now in 2026, we are witnessing the birth of a new legend on the badminton court who seems to embody the essence of these legends in one body. This is Ahn Se-young, the world’s badminton queen. It is not an excessive leap to think of past legends while watching Ahn Se-young’s one-man world. This is because he is currently on the path to becoming the ‘overwhelming world number one’ that no one has ever achieved in the history of Korean sports.

First, Ahn Se-young can read Se-ri Pak’s strong fighting spirit. Se-ri Pak symbolized the power of Koreans to overcome hardships. His trademark was not just that he was good at hitting the ball, but that he had the tenacity of a hunting dog to not give up even in moments of crisis and ultimately achieve victory. (With such tenacity, he recorded 25 wins, including 6 major wins, on the LPGA tour, and became the first Asian player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.)

Ahn Se-young’s playing style is also in line with this. No matter where the shuttlecock lands in the corner of the court, even when his knees and thighs hurt and he is out of breath, he does not stop. The sight of him throwing his whole body to save the shuttlecock leaves the opponent suffocated. The way she silently protects the court despite the adverse circumstances of injury is similar to that of Se-ri Pak, who entered the hazard barefoot 28 years ago.

Yuna Kim performing elegantly at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

◆Yuna Kim’s Elegance: Artistic Play on the Court

If you look closely at Ahn Se-young’s footwork, you will naturally see overlap with Kim Yu-na. Yuna Kim elevated figure skating from a simple sport to the level of art with perfect jumps, graceful steps, and passionate emotional acting. (Won gold medal at Vancouver Olympics and silver medal at Sochi Olympics)

The same goes for Ahn Se-young. His game is intense but beautiful. Badminton is inherently an urgent sport where the game is decided in a split second. However, Ahn Se-young is particularly soft and elegant even in the chaos. He neutralizes the opponent’s powerful smashes with simple footwork and dominates the space on the court with unpredictable movements.

His quick and accurate steps and undisturbed posture during rallies have the ‘perfection’ to make his opponent collapse on his own without putting too much pressure on him. Just as Yuna Kim is swimming on the ice, Seyoung Ahn is perfecting her own play on the court.

Lee Sang-hwa is running around the corner with a lot of power. Lee Sang-hwa dominated the global ice skating world for a long period of time, winning the 500 meter race twice in a row at the Vancouver and Sochi Olympics and winning a silver medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics./Newsis

◆Lee Sang-hwa’s solidity: An unwavering, iron wall of defense

Just as the queen of ice speed, Lee Sang-hwa, defeated her opponent’s will to chase with her overwhelming lower body strength and achieved her second consecutive Olympic title, Ahn Se-young builds an impenetrable defense based on a strong physical condition that no one can match. The most common sight in Ahn Se-young’s games is that as the rally gets longer, the opponent first lowers his head in exhaustion. (Sang-hwa Lee is a medalist in three consecutive Olympics, winning two consecutive women’s 500-meter titles at the Vancouver and Sochi Olympics, followed by a silver medal in Pyeongchang).

The so-called ‘suffocating defense’, which allows you to take all of your opponent’s sharp attacks and rather tire them out, is a strategy that can only be achieved when you have overwhelming physical and mental strength. Just as Lee Sang-hwa maintained unwavering explosive power from the start to the finish, Ahn Se-young maintains a firmness that takes the opponent’s breath away from the start of the game until the end. This is why even the world’s best athletes feel helpless and collapse.

Ahn Se-young (right), who won the recently concluded India Open, poses alongside her rival Wang Zhiyi on the podium./AP.Newsis

◆Dignity proven by records, and honesty toward the essence

The numbers prove Ahn Se-young’s greatness. He broke the record for the most wins in a single season (11 wins) and the highest win percentage (94.8%) in 2025 and is not stopping this year either. He has won the last six tournaments in a row, including three consecutive wins at the Malaysia Open and two consecutive wins at the India Open, and is continuing his 30-game winning streak. In particular, his overwhelming record of 10 consecutive wins against world number 2 Wang Zhiyi proves that he has entered the realm of ‘absolute power’ that even his rivals do not allow.

However, the reason why Ahn Se-young is truly special lies in his ‘attitude’. These days, we live in an era where people are already consumed like stars before they become stars. In a trend where image is created before performance, Ahn Se-young is intentionally ignoring this. His stubbornness in leaving behind the barrage of advertisements and broadcasting appearances and heading to the training ground, saying, “What I have to do is clear,” is consistent with the path taken by empresses of the past. The honesty of wanting to prove herself only on stage makes Ahn Se-young shine even more.

We are now seeing an empress who is opening a new era with her own colors, embracing all the fighting spirit of Se-ri Pak, the elegance of Yu-na Kim, and the solidity of Lee Sang-hwa. Ahn Se-young is summoning all the glorious memories of Korean sports at once and writing a new history at the same time. Just being able to watch him makes me truly happy.

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