An Se-young hits a return to Wang Zhiyi throughout their girls’s singles ultimate match on the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals on the Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
Korean badminton star An Se-young claimed her record-tying eleventh worldwide 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 ladies’s singles title on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals at Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou on Sunday.
The victory put An in a tie with the previous males’s singles participant Kento Momota for probably the most worldwide titles in a single season.
An reached 12 finals in 15 BWF World Tour occasions this season, and her solely loss in a ultimate got here in opposition to Akane Yamaguchi of Japan on the Korea Open in September.
Because the annual season finale, the World Tour Finals are open solely to the highest eight particular person gamers and high eight doubles pairs from the World Tour season.
Within the girls’s singles, the eight gamers had been divided into two teams, and the highest two gamers from every group after round-robin motion certified for the semifinals.
An went undefeated within the preliminary section after which knocked off Yamaguchi within the semifinals to get a measure of revenge.
Gold medallist An Se-young, proper, and silver medallist Wang Zhiyi pose with the trophies through the award ceremony for girls’s singles ultimate match on the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals on the Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
Within the first recreation in opposition to Wang on Sunday, An turned an 8-4 deficit right into a 12-8 lead in a rush, as Wang misplaced steam after a fast begin. From there, An cruised to a 21-13 win along with her sometimes excellent shotmaking and sensible protection.
Wang jumped out to a 4-1 result in open the second recreation and as soon as once more grabbed an 8-4 lead. An lower the deficit to 8-7 earlier than Wang gained an prolonged rally to go up 9-7.
An then went down 10-7 and regarded a little bit fatigued within the course of, however she gutted out 5 straight factors to grab a 12-10 lead.
Gold medallist An Se-young poses with the trophy through the award ceremony for girls’s singles ultimate match on the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals on the Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
Wang responded with two consecutive factors earlier than taking a 17-14 benefit. The Chinese language participant then held off An for a 21-18 win that knotted the match at one recreation apiece.
Within the deciding third recreation, An took an 8-5 lead after an early seesaw battle. With each gamers visibly exhausted, An gave herself a 15-6 cushion en path to a convincing win.
Within the late phases of the match, An stored flexing her left leg with obvious discomfort in her knee. Holding a match level at 20-10, An took a couple of moments to stretch out her leg on the sidelines earlier than limping again to the courtroom.
Primarily taking part in on one leg, An in some way transformed the match level for the record-tying victory.
An improved to 16-4 in opposition to Wang, together with an ideal 8-0 mark this 12 months. An’s final loss to Wang got here within the semifinals of the 2024 World Tour Finals.
An Se-young celebrates after defeating Wang Zhiyi throughout their girls’s singles ultimate match on the BWF Badminton World Tour Finals on the Hangzhou Olympic Sports activities Centre Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, Sunday. AFP-Yonhap
