Asian Games, Medal hopeful Badminton Ahn Se-young
Rapid growth from high school prospect to No. 1 in the world in 5 years.
Women"s singles gold medal "green light" in 29 years since Soo-hyun Bang
It takes 10 years for the rivers and mountains to change, but for Ahn Se-yeong (21), 5 years was enough.
Ahn Se-young, who will board a flight to Hangzhou in September, is not the same Ahn Se-young who was eliminated in the round of 32 at the 2018 Jakarta Palembang Games.
Five years ago, Ahn Se-young was a promising freshman in high school who had only been wearing the Taegeuk mark for less than a year.
Ahn Se-young won the national team selection in December 2017, beating adult unemployed players and wearing the Taegeuk mark for the first time in his life.
It was the first case since Lee Yong-dae that a student was selected as an adult national representative.
As such, she received attention as a "badminton genius girl" and entered the Asian Games entry, but the result was eliminated in the first round.
At that time, the atmosphere was even worse because Korean badminton suffered its first no medal in 40 years since the 1978 Bangkok Games.
Ahn Se-young silently honed his skills.
2019 was the year Ahn Se-young took off the tag of a promising player and established himself as a current player.
Starting with her first win on her debut at the World Badminton Federation (BWF) New Zealand Open in May, Ahn Se-young reached the top of five international tournaments during the year.
Top athletes such as 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic gold medalist Karolina Marin (Spain), 2019 World Championship champion Fusala Sindhu (India), and former world No.
At the Korea Masters in November, she overpowered her role model Seong Ji-hyeon and inherited the modifier of "women"s singles".
Ahn Se-young, who raised her world rankings from 99th to 9th, also received the BWF Rookie of the Year Award, the first Korean player to do so.
Ironically, it was thanks to the appearance of "nemesis" that Ahn Se-young was able to leap to the top ranker.
This is China"s Tian Yu Fei.
Chen Yu-Fei was the person who knelt down Ahn Se-young in the round of 32 at the Jakarta Palembang Games, and made Ahn Se-young cry again at the Tokyo Olympics held three years later.
Ahn Se-young, who said that she did not take a day off to prepare for the Olympics after suffering a high defeat in the Asian Games, met Chen Yu-fei in the quarterfinals and suffered a heartbreaking defeat 0-2 (18-21 19-21).
Ahn Se-young"s tears did not last long.
She got up like a tumbleweed, as she does in the coat.
A full year later, in July 2022, Ahn Se-young finally defeated Chen Yu-fei in the final of the Malaysia Masters.
It was a valuable victory, won after losing 7 in a row in 4 years, starting with her first loss.
Ahn Se-young, who gained confidence and composure, saying, “There is no player who has never won,” began to fly without any roughness.
Ahn Se-young showed off his skills by winning 7 championships, 3 runners-up, and 1 bronze medal in 11 international competitions he participated in this year.
In March, she won the women"s singles gold medal for the first time in 27 years since Bang Soo-hyun in 1996 at the Jeonyeong Open, the most prestigious badminton tournament.
She then moved up to the world No. 1 spot in August when she overtook Japan"s Akane Yamaguchi.
It is the first time in 27 years that a Korean player has reached the top of the women"s singles since Bang Soo-hyeon, the gold medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Now, Ahn Se-young is determined to win the women’s singles gold medal 29 years after Bang Soo-hyeon in the 1994 Hiroshima Games.
It is also an opportunity to widen the gap with Ahn Se-young and Yamaguchi (Japan), Chen Yu-fei, and Tai Zi-ying, who form the semifinals.
Their opponent record is 8-12 with Yamaguchi, 5-10 with Chen Yu-fei, and 8-2 with Tai Ziying.
The key is how much Ahn Se-young compensates for her weakness, her attack power.
Her strong point over Ahn Se-young is her wide coat coverage based on her stamina and flexibility.
If her sharp attack power is added to this, a variety of play becomes possible, and she can defeat 3 competitors with different styles.
Seong Ji-hyeon, the national team"s women"s singles coach, said, "I focus on sophistication and speed rather than smashing power," and added, "Ahn Se-young still has a lot of potential to grow