An Se-young Claims Korea Open Title
South Korea’s An Se-young defeated Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 to win the Badminton World Federation World Tour Korea Open women’s singles final, starnewskorea.com reported on Jan. 9, 2026.
The match took place on Jan. 8 at the Yeosu Jinam Gymnasium in the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City. An secured the victory with set scores of 21-12, 15-21, and 21-16 over the world No. 2 player.
Record Eleventh Win of the Season
The victory marked An’s 11th championship trophy of the season, matching the single-season title record she set last year, starnewskorea.com reported. Japan’s Kento Momota previously set the benchmark of 11 wins in a single season in 2019.
With back-to-back years of 11 tournament victories, An became the first singles player in badminton history—male or female—to achieve the feat in consecutive seasons. Her overall match record for the year reached 71 wins against just 1 single loss across 72 matches, giving her a 98.6% win rate, according to starnewskorea.com.
A Boxing National Team Father
Overseas media coverage highlighted An’s athletic lineage, noting that her father, An Jung-hyun, represented South Korea as a national team boxer at the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, starnewskorea.com reported. Her mother, Lee Hyun-hee, competed as a gymnast.
Despite her parents’ backgrounds in boxing and gymnastics, An gravitated toward badminton after her father introduced her to the sport. In a family video, her father offered athletic advice by comparing disciplines, telling her, Boxing and badminton actually have things in common. You must move lightly like a butterfly and attack quickly and powerfully like a bee,
starnewskorea.com reported.
Rapid Ascent to Olympic Gold
An earned selection to the national team in 2017 while still a middle school student. She subsequently captured gold medals at the 2023 World Championships, the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Singapore’s United Daily News reported that An possesses a balanced technical system with nearly no clear technical weaknesses, relying on neither purely offensive nor defensive tactics. Following her Paris Olympic victory, she publicly criticized the Korea Badminton Association, prompting subsequent administrative changes in the domestic sport, starnewskorea.com reported.
An Practices English Through Lessons and Media Interviews
Away from tournament courts, An maintains a strict self-improvement routine that includes taking online English lessons three times a week and completing daily homework, starnewskorea.com reported. She attempts post-match media interviews in English whenever possible, conducting a solo English Q&A with reporters at a tournament in Singapore.
Reporters at international stops noted her professional demeanor and memory for faces. Following one tournament victory, she gifted a souvenir headband to a South Korean journalist who had covered her across multiple events, starnewskorea.com reported.
Earlier coverage: An Se-young Wins Korea Open Women's Singles Title to Match Record 11 Wins in a Single Season
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