‘Queen of the Court’ Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance) also had a painful moment. However, instead of collapsing, he stood up again and is writing badminton history with his improved skills.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on social media on the 2nd (Korean time), “Ahn Se-young did not get the results he wanted at the 2025 Paris World Championships. However, he used that frustration as fuel to run a record-breaking sprint.”
The match that caused Ahn Se-young frustration was the women’s singles semifinal of the World Championships held in Paris, France in August last year. At that time, he met Chen Yufei (China), who was considered his biggest rival, and bowed with the game score 0-2 (15-21 17-21).
It was even more disappointing because it was his second consecutive loss against Chen Yufei. Ahn Se-young lost to Chen Yu-fei in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Open in May last year, ending her 27-game winning streak on the BWF stage. And when he met Chen Yufei again, he was attacked once more and his revenge failed.
However, the bitter defeat that day became the driving force that made Ahn Se-young stronger. In an interview with BWF, he recalled, “When I looked back after the World Championships, I had a lot of frustrating thoughts. I tried to relieve those thoughts while practicing again.”
Ahn Se-young continued, “Of course, I want to win a lot of titles as a player. For now, I want to achieve what I called the ‘Grand Slam’ once again. In a way, my goal is to continue to be able to quickly and stably adopt my play style,” adding, “It’s not something that’s made overnight, so I have to keep testing and working hard until I get results.”
Ahn Se-young has already won gold medals at the World Championships, Asian Games, and Olympics. He won the 2023 World Championships and also reached the top at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics held in the same year.
Now, the only thing left until the Grand Slam is the Asian Championships. If Ahn Se-young wins the Asian Championships to be held in China in April, she will achieve her goal.
Ahn Se-young exclaimed that her prime has not yet arrived. He is undergoing special training against male players to further hone his skills.
Ahn Se-young said, “I often spar with male players to change my playing style. I do that because male players are opponents that I can practice with faster than female players. For now, I want to improve my offense more.”
He also said, “I think the most important thing for me to focus on is maintaining the defense and stamina I have now and growing even a little. Opponents often bring in many tactics and play styles to beat me. I’m always aware of that and try to prepare a lot. I’m also trying to change my play style to suit the opponent.”
Meanwhile, Ahn Se-young emerged as a stronger player after losing to Chen Yu-fei. Afterwards, he conquered the China Masters, Denmark Open, French Open, Australian Open, and even the World Tour Finals, completing 11 crowns in 2025. This ties the record for most wins (11 wins) set by legendary Japanese men’s singles player Kento Momota in 2019.
/finekosh@osen.co.kr
[사진] Korean Badminton Association, BWF social media.
