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Badminton star An Se-young captures record-tying 11th int'l title of year

Published: 22 Dec. 2025, 09:44

An Se-young celebrates after defeating China's Wang Zhiyi during their women's singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Dec. 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean badminton star An Se-young claimed her record-tying 11th international title of the season on Sunday in China.

An, world No. 1 and 2024 Olympic gold medalist, defeated Wang Zhiyi of China 2-1 (21-13, 18-21, 21-10) for the women's singles title at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou on Sunday.

The victory put An in a tie with the former men's singles player Kento Momota for the most international titles in a single season.

"I doubted whether I'd really be able to get to the 11th win," An said after her 96-minute battle against Wang. "I guess my belief was stronger than those doubts."

An reached 12 finals in 15 BWF World Tour events this season, and her only loss in a final came against Akane Yamaguchi of Japan at the Korea Open in September.

As the annual season finale, the World Tour Finals are open only to the top eight individual players and top eight doubles pairs from the World Tour season.

In the women's singles, the eight players were divided into two groups, and the top two players from each group after round-robin action qualified for the semifinals.

Baek Ha-na, top, and Lee So-hee celebrate after defeating Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto during their women?s doubles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Dec. 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

An went undefeated in the preliminary phase and then knocked off Yamaguchi in the semifinals to get a measure of revenge.

In the first game against Wang on Sunday, An turned an 8-4 deficit into a 12-8 lead in a hurry, as Wang lost steam after a quick start. From there, An cruised to a 21-13 win with her typically superb shotmaking and brilliant defense.

Wang jumped out to a 4-1 lead to open the second game and once again grabbed an 8-4 lead. An cut the deficit to 8-7 before Wang won an extended rally to go up 9-7.

An then went down 10-7 and looked a little fatigued in the process, but she gutted out five straight points to seize a 12-10 lead.

Wang responded with two consecutive points before taking a 17-14 advantage. The Chinese player then held off An for a 21-18 win that knotted the match at one game apiece.

In the deciding third game, An took an 8-5 lead after an early seesaw battle. With both players visibly exhausted, An gave herself a 15-6 cushion en route to a convincing win.

In the late stages of the match, An kept flexing her left leg with apparent discomfort in her knee. Holding a match point at 20-10, An took a few moments to stretch out her leg on the sidelines before limping back to the court.

Essentially playing on one leg, An somehow converted the match point for the record-tying victory.

"It was a grueling match. Toward the end, my leg hurt every time I landed on it, but I stuck to it through the end," An said. "I am really happy that I was able to finish with such a great result. I can't even describe how I feel. My hard work has paid off, and I want to keep going for more records."

As for what her next goals are, An said, "I want to win major competitions, like the world championships and the Asian Games. I just want to win them all."

Gold medallist An Se-young poses with the trophy during the award ceremony for women's singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Dec. 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

An also said she wants to hit shots the way male singles players do, with their superior power and speed.

"When I watch men's singles matches, there are so many plays that make me go, 'How did they hit that shot?'" An said. "I want to play like that, and I think I can get close to that level at some point in the future."

An improved to 16-4 against Wang, including a perfect 8-0 mark this year. An's last loss to Wang came in the semifinals of the 2024 World Tour Finals.

Korea earned two more titles, both in the doubles, on Sunday in Hangzhou.

The world No. 1 tandem of Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae beat Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) for their 11th title of the year, matching An's and Momota's feats. The Koreans needed just 40 minutes to finish off the Chinese duo.

An Se-young hits a return to China's Wang Zhiyi during their women's singles final match at the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province on Dec. 21. [AFP/YONHAP]

Seo won the Thailand Masters with a different partner, Jin Yong, in February.

In the opening game, Kim and Seo broke away from a 12-12 tie with three straight points and didn't trail the rest of the way.

Kim and Seo scored the first five points of the second game and led by as much as 16-6 at one point. Liang and Wang showed some life by reeling off seven straight points, but the Korean team won the final four points to cap their memorable season.

Kim and Seo were reunited this year after first playing together from 2017 to 2018.

Earlier in the day, Baek Hana and Lee So-hee defeated Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto of Japan 2-0 (21-17, 21-11) to defend their women's doubles title.

The teams were all tied at 17-17 in the back-and-forth first game, before the Koreans grabbed four straight points to close things out.

Baek and Lee had a much easier time in the second game. With a 12-10 lead, the Koreans won eight consecutive points before finishing off their opponents at 21-11.

Baek and Lee, world No. 7 in the women's doubles, improved to 3-1 in their career against the fifth-ranked team from Japan.

Baek and Lee also became the first Korean doubles team, men's or women's, to claim back-to-back World Tour Finals titles since the event's inception in 2018.

Lee had previously won the World Tour Finals title with a different partner, Shin Seung-chan, in 2020.

Yonhap