Korean badminton star Ahn Se-young is taking a commemorative photo at the awards ceremony after defeating China’s Gao Fangjie in the women’s singles final of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. AFP/Yonhap News
(Xports News Reporter Choi Won-young) Ahn Se-young (World No. 1, Samsung Life Insurance) shared her thoughts on winning.
On the 25th, Ahn Se-young left a message on her personal social network service (SNS) account, saying, “Thank you to everyone who supported and helped me.”
In addition, he tagged China’s Gao Fangjie, his opponent in the finals, and said, “It was a pleasure playing together.” Seyoung Ahn also added the hashtags ‘enjoy’ and ‘badminton’.
Ahn Se-young won the championship by defeating Gao Fangjie (28th) 2-0 (21-12 21-8) in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 750 China Masters women’s singles final held at the Shenzhen Arena in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. I won it.
Ahn Se-young, who won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, took a break for about two months after the Olympics. I took care of my body by managing chronic knee and ankle injuries. Afterwards, he announced his return through the Denmark Open held last month. They returned successfully, finishing in second place. He also regained the No. 1 spot in the world rankings, which he lost to his rival, China’s Chen Yufei.
Korean badminton star Ahn Se-young is celebrating after defeating China’s Gao Fangjie in the women’s singles final of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. AP/Yonhap News
Korean badminton star Seyoung Ahn is playing against China’s Gao Fangjie in the women’s singles final of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. Seyoung Ahn won the championship. AFP/Yonhap News
The queen of badminton showed off her skills to the fullest at the China Masters, which was her second international competition after the Olympics.
Seyoung Ahn defeated Ratchanok Inthanon (Thailand, 18th place) 2-1 in the round of 32 of the tournament. In the round of 16, they defeated Song Shuoyin (Taiwan, 24th place) 2-1. He then defeated Zhang Yiman (China, 23rd) 2-0 (21-11 21-11) in the quarterfinals. Unlike the round of 32 and round of 16, they did not give up a single game and increased their momentum. She also smiled as she won 2-0 (21-5 22-20) against her semifinal opponent Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan, 24th place).
Gao Fangjie, whom Ahn Se-young met in the finals, advanced to the final stage by defeating her tough opponent, Suphanida Katetong (Thailand, 8th place), 2-0 (21-16 21-15) in the semifinals. However, the final was completely led by Ahn Se-young. Using his unique solid defense, he brought out Gao Fangjie’s mistake. Ahn Se-young, who easily won the first game, ran away to 19-6 in the second game, showing a comfortable score difference. They achieved the championship with a landslide victory without any upsets.
Korean badminton star Ahn Se-young is taking a commemorative photo at the awards ceremony after defeating China’s Gao Fangjie in the women’s singles final of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. From left, Gao Fangjie and An Seyoung. AFP/Yonhap News
Korean badminton star Seyoung Ahn is playing against China’s Gao Fangjie in the women’s singles final of the China Masters held in Shenzhen, China on the 24th. Seyoung Ahn won the championship. AFP/Yonhap News
By winning this China Masters, Ahn Se-young plans to firmly maintain her No. 1 spot in the world rankings. In the most recent world rankings announced on the 20th, Ahn Se-young maintained first place with 103,267 points, Wang Zhiyi (China) ranked second with 94,095 points, and Chen Yu-fei ranked third with 93,982 points. Chen Yufei has not participated in any international competitions since the Paris Olympics, and Wang Zhiyi was eliminated early after losing to Gao Fangjie in the round of 16 of this tournament. Only Ahn Se-young shined leisurely.
Meanwhile, Ahn Se-young whistle-blowed the Korea Badminton Association’s administrative chaos, team management, training methods, and decision-making system immediately after the Paris Olympics. Afterwards, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism investigated the Korea Badminton Association and requested the dismissal of Kim Taek-gyu, the association’s president, and also requested an investigation into him.
The association said in a press release, “We conducted interviews with national team players and held briefing sessions for communication to actively collect their opinions. We have revised some of the absurd national team management guidelines.”
Photo = AFP, AP/Yonhap News
Reporter Choi Won-young [email protected]
