Ahn Se-young: Secrets to Badminton Dominance & Male Sparring Partner Revealed

[마이데일리 = 이정원 기자] How was Ahn Se-young able to become the queen of badminton?

It was no exaggeration to say that 2025 was the year of Ahn Se-young. Ahn Se-young won the BWF (Badminton International Federation) World Tour Final held in Hangzhou, China in December last year, beating Wang Ziyi (China) with a set score of 2-1, and succeeded in winning her 11th title in 2025.

With this, Ahn Se-young became the first player in badminton history to exceed $1 million in prize money in a single season. Ahn Se-young won 11 times in the 15 competitions she participated in. It was the first 11 wins for a women’s singles player in a single season. The winning rate is 94.8% (73 wins, 4 losses), a record that no one can surpass.

Ahn Se-young is already walking down the path of legend. He won the Grand Slam by winning the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the 2023 World Championships, and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Winning gold in the women’s singles at the Paris Olympics was meaningful because it was 28 years since Bang Bang-hyun’s victory at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

No one can easily deal with Ahn Se-young, but Ahn Se-young always pushes herself and strives to grow. In an interview released by BWF on the 2nd (Korean time), Ahn Se-young said, “The big goal is to have a stable play style. It’s not something that can be created overnight. You have to keep testing and working hard until you get results. There are times when you use male players as sparring partners to change your play style. Male players are opponents that you can practice with faster than female players. It’s like having a practice match with male players.”

It’s not that Ahn Se-young didn’t have a crisis. Seyoung Ahn lost 0-2 to her rival Chen Yufei (China) at the World Championships held in Paris, France in August last year.

Ahn Se-young said emphatically, “When I looked back at the World Championships, I had a lot of frustrating thoughts. I tried to relieve those feelings by practicing again.”

After the World Championships, he showed off his incredible power by winning all six competitions he participated in, except for the runner-up finish at the Korea Open. In particular, the Li Ning China Masters in September and the BWF World Tour Australian Open in November were all wins with no loss sets.

Ahn Se-young said, “Opponents bring many tactics to beat me, but I am always aware of them and try to prepare. I also try to change to suit my opponent.”

He continued, “I want to improve my offense a little more. I need to maintain my current defensive ability and physical strength and try to improve them even a little more. As a player, I want to win many titles. For now, I want to achieve the Grand Slam once again.”

What will 2026 be like for Ahn Se-young? Starting with the Malaysia Open held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 6th, the team will embark on a long journey in 2026.