“It was really good to be able to beat players I’ve never beaten before (like Chen Yu-Fei and He Bing-Zhao). I have to win, so I don’t know if I can even use the words ‘I conquered Asia’ (laughs)”
Ahn Se-young (21, Samsung Life Insurance, 메이저놀이터world ranking No. 2), who is training at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province last month, said in an interview with Spotify News. The ‘shuttlecock genius’ who grew up quickly took off his skin once again this year and soared. He competed in five World Badminton Federation (BWF) World Tour events held this year and reached the finals. Having won three championships and runner-up twice, he is running at the top of the season rankings.
The tournament in which Ahn Se-young has emerged as a strong player in the badminton women’s singles is the 2021 BWF World Tour Finals. In the final of this tournament, the ‘King of Kings’, he won the championship by defeating the ‘Hero of Indian badminton’ Pusala V Sindhu.
Last year, Ahn Se-young reached the top at the Korea Open, Malaysia Masters and Australian Open. Challenged to win her first World Championship, she lost to Akane Yamaguchi (Japan, world No. 1) and had to be content with a runner-up finish. In the BWF Finals, which challenged for a second straight victory, both Yamaguchi and Chen Yufei (China, world No. 4) were eliminated in the group stage by kneeling.
In the mountain climbing to the top of the world, Yamaguchi and Chen Yufei were always ‘a valley that could not be climbed’. Until last year, Yamaguchi and Yamaguchi had a record of 5 wins and 11 losses, and Chen Yufei had 1 win and 8 losses.
Ahead of this season, Ahn Se-young focused on strengthening his physical strength last winter. He said, “I always thought that I was pushed back in terms of physical strength. My physical strength increases only when my strength is supported. I also did a lot of basic weight training.”
Ahn Se-young, who has the advantage of persistent ‘net defense’, has improved her offensive power this year. Here, the concentration shown in the game is also different from last year.
In the semifinals of the Malaysia Open held in January, Ahn Se-young beat Chen Yu-fei. Also, on the 19th (Korean time), in the final of the Jeon Young Open held in Birmingham, England, he once again caught Yu-Fei Chen.
Ahn Se-young, who met Chen Yu-fei twice this year and won both, broke off the dreaded ‘natural enemy jinx’. He has a record of 1 win and 1 loss this year against world number one Yamaguchi. Also, in the Malaysia Masters final, she defeated Carolina Marin (Spain), the gold medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Ahn Se-young recalled, “I was able to know how to beat these players by bumping into them and breaking them a lot. I learned a lot while losing.”
In the semi-finals of the Jeonyeong Open, Ahn Se-young defeated Tai Zi-ying (Taiwan), who ranked third in the world, 2-1 (17-21 21-19 24-22) after a close match. After the match, he told BWF, “The biggest contributing factor to my victory was my confidence. I believed it wasn’t over until it was over.”
Returning home after conquering the Indian Open and Malaysia Masters in January, he said that he had regained his confidence, saying, “I don’t think there is a player who has never won.” The confidence he regained by winning consecutively over strong opponents led to valuable results of three championships and two runners-up this year.
This year, Ahn Se-young has a big tournament ahead. In August, the World Championships will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark. And on September 23, the Hangzhou Asian Games kick off.
Ahn Se-young showed a start that ‘couldn’t have been better’ this season. The most important thing is to prevent injuries and take care of your body to keep it in the best condition. Ahn Se-young, who conquered the Jeonyeong Open in 27 years since Bang Soo-hyun in 1996, expressed her feelings, saying, “A milestone has been drawn in my career. I am proud of myself and I also thought that I had to grow one step further.”