After breaking down in tears after her first round exit at the last Asian Games in Jakarta, Ahn Se-young will go for gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games this September.
She was a challenger then, but now she’s confident she can win gold as the world’s No. 1 and the best in the world.
At both the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, it was China’s Chen Yufei, the world No. 1 in women’s singles, who stood in Ahn’s way.
[Comment from the 2021 Tokyo Olympics: “Ahn Se-young lost (in the quarterfinals), but she sent shivers down the spine of the world number one.”]
But Ahn is no longer a challenger.
After 11 international events this year, with seven wins and three runner-up finishes, she has finally reached the top of the world rankings for the first time.
She also tops the men’s and women’s prize money rankings, and will attempt to win her first Asian Games gold medal from her undisputed position at the top of the world.
[Ahn Se-young/ National Badminton Team: “If I win the gold medal, I think I will cry tears of joy. (I think I’m already crying.) It’s kind of meaningful that it took me six years to get to the top of the world rankings.”]
Her biggest rivals are Chen Yufei and world No. 2 Yamaguchi of Japan.
Coincidentally, Hangzhou, the host city of the Asian Games, is Chen Yufei’s hometown, and one-sided support is expected, but Ahn is more competitive.
[Ahn Se-young/ National Badminton Team: “I’m looking forward to seeing how the matches I play as the No. 1 player will go, and whether I play in Chen Yufei’s hometown or anywhere else, I’ll just have fun and do what I want to do, and I’ll get good enough results…”]
A total of seven gold medals are up for grabs in badminton, and women’s doubles pairs Kim So-young-Gong Hee-yong and Lee So-hee-Baek Ha-na, ranked third and fourth in the world respectively, 먹튀검증 have expressed their ambition to face off in the final.