[스포티비뉴스=조용운 기자] As we welcome the new year of 2026, the attention of the world badminton world is once again focused on the ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance). As Ahn Se-young is expected to dominate this year again, Ahn Se-young is also burning her will to go beyond her limits to meet expectations.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) recently predicted the women’s singles landscape through a preview of the 2026 season posted on its official website. BWF made an assessment that “there are currently only four opponents in the world who can stop Ahn Se-young’s dominance.”
This means that the top organization has acknowledged that the structure that Ahn Se-young began dominating last year by winning 11 World Tour titles will remain unwavering in 2026.
In addition, he defeated Wang Zhiyi (2nd place, China) in the World Tour Finals, the king of the season, and rose to the top, opening the era of single season prize money of $1 million (approximately 1.3 billion won). Beyond gender, Ahn Se-young began to give a new definition to badminton singles.
 |
Ahn Se-young is not satisfied with the praise and is beating herself up. In an interview released on BWF’s official YouTube channel, he said, “When I think back to the World Individual Championships, I still feel frustrated in terms of performance,” and showed an effort to find his shortcomings even in the midst of victory. Although he has already achieved the career grand slam by winning the Olympics, Asian Games, and World Championships, he has revealed his endless thirst to “recreate that glory once again.”
To put this into practice, she recently made a point of choosing male athletes as her training partners. Se-young Ahn said, “I am improving my sense of practical combat by sparring with male athletes who use shuttlecocks much faster and more powerful than female athletes.” The strategy is to overwhelm the opponent by sharpening the spear while maintaining the existing solid defense and infinite stamina.
 |
In other words, the fact that four people are being mentioned as opponents to Ahn Se-young seems like a hope for the emergence of competitors. Last year, they recorded 73 wins and 4 losses, and only two players allowed losses. She lost to Chen Yufei (4th place, China) at the Singapore Open and World Championships, and to Akane Yamaguchi (3rd place, Japan) at the Korea Open. The remaining loss was a withdrawal due to physical condition issues.
So, although a specific list was not mentioned, it feels like underestimating the strongest to think that only four people can tear down the strong wall built by Ahn Se-young. Of course, BWF also gave a hint of acknowledging the creation of a forced list of rivals, saying, “There are almost no signs that a new challenger will emerge that will threaten them in 2026.”
 |
The categories of this article follow the classification of media outlets.
