An Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance (032830) captured a clean title at a tournament seen as a dress rehearsal for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, completing her preparations for what would be the first back-to-back Asian Games gold in the women's singles in Korean badminton history.
The world No. 1 beat ninth-ranked Miyazaki Tomoka of Japan 2-0 (21-17, 21-6) in just 45 minutes in the final of the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour China Masters, a Super 750 event, at Shenzhen Arena in China on the 6th.
An, 24, sat out two tournaments, the Japan Open and the China Open, after injuring her left foot in July. She won the world championships last month in her first event back and has now taken two titles in a row, confirming that her drive for an Asian Games gold medal remains on track.
An has been collecting trophies at a remarkable pace this season, going 49-1 for a 98% win rate and winning 10 tournaments. She has won 33 consecutive matches since losing to Wang Zhiyi of China in the All England Open final in March. She is also on pace to surpass the 94.8% win rate (72-4) she set in the 2025 season, the highest ever for a singles player, male or female.
Since returning from injury, she has beaten Wang, ranked second, and third-ranked Yamaguchi Akane of Japan back to back, the players most likely to contend with her for gold at the Asian Games, showing she has no equal at the moment.
The South Korean badminton team will play the team events from the 20th to the 24th at the Asian Games, which open on the 19th, before targeting a haul of medals in the individual events from the 25th to the 29th. The women's singles draw that An enters begins with the round of 64 on the 25th, with the final set for the 29th.
At these Games An is attempting the second successive Asian Games title in Korean badminton history and the first by a women's singles player. Outside of mixed doubles, no Korean badminton player has won consecutive Asian Games titles. The mixed doubles pair of Kim Dong-moon and Ra Kyung-min, then the best in the world, are the only ones to have done so, winning at the 1998 Bangkok Games and the 2002 Busan Games.
