[스포티비뉴스=장하준 기자] The world of badminton is changing. At the center of it all is Ahn Se-young (23, Samsung Life Insurance). Ahead of the World Tour Finals, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) put Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) at the forefront and drew a line saying, “Women’s singles cannot be explained by Ahn Se-young’s solo performance alone,” but the Chinese media raised the exact opposite topic. It was pointed out that “the current prize money system cannot keep up with Ahn Se-young’s status and skills.”
These two perspectives are clearly different, but the direction they flow is the same. Ahn Se-young has already become a standard, and the world compares and judges her. In other words, the new center of world badminton is moving to Korea.
BWF released a preview of the 2025 World Tour Finals to be held in Hangzhou, China on the 17th and placed Yamaguchi as its representative image. It was a decision to put the world championship winner in the headline, not the world number one. BWF emphasized Yamaguchi as “the only name to have beaten Ahn Se-young in the finals in the 2025 season,” and stated, “Although Ahn Se-young’s season is historic, the championship is not confirmed. Kento Momota’s attempt to set a record of 11 wins in a single season must also be watched.” It was a paradoxical tension that raised boundaries even among the strongest players.
If you just look at the statistics, the situation is clear. Ahn Se-young has already won 10 competitions this year. They swept the highest level competitions, including the Super 1000 and Super 750 levels, and their win rate reached the 94% range. There is only one step left to reach 11 wins in a single season. On the other hand, Yamaguchi has only one major title, the World Championships. Nevertheless, BWF is trying to establish a rivalry based on the fact that he is ‘the only player who has blocked Ahn Se-young.’
At this point, the Chinese media took issue with a completely different issue. Sina Sports strongly criticized badminton’s prize money structure, saying, “Even with 10 wins, Ahn Se-young only earned about 1.1 billion won (about 760,000 dollars).” And the name brought out for comparison was Yannick Sinner, ranked second in the tennis world. Shinner’s prize money this year is about 28.1 billion won. That’s a whopping 25 times difference. Chinese media emphasized, “Ahn Se-young is ruling the world, and there is no compensation commensurate with it.”
This immediately makes one fact clearer. Ahn Se-young is already a player who transcends nationality and borders and moves fans and media in other countries. The Chinese media pretends to criticize, but in fact acknowledges her era, and the reason why the language of ‘check’ appears in the first place is because it is ultimately at the center.
What if Ahn Se-young wins again in Hangzhou? The season prize money will increase by an additional 350 million won ($240,000), surpassing 1 million dollars in a single season. This is the first time in badminton history that it includes men’s as well as women’s singles. However, the Chinese media assesses that “it is still not enough.” The analysis is that the market value of sports is not keeping up with the majesty of the skills.
Now, world badminton is divided into ranks based on Ahn Se-young, articles are produced, and comparisons are made. BWF says ‘It’s not just a monopoly’ and China criticizes ‘Money can’t keep up with ability’, but both are actually saying the same thing.
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