An Se-young Reaches Asian Games Final With Dominant Win Over Chen Yufei
World No. 1 An Se-young swept China’s Chen Yufei to reach the women’s singles badminton final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, moving one victory away from an unprecedented second consecutive title in the event.
South Korean badminton star An Se-young advanced to the women’s singles final at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, defeating longtime Chinese rival Chen Yufei in straight games and moving within one win of a historic title defense.
The world No. 1 won the semifinal 21-5, 21-12 at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Japan. An established control immediately by taking the first nine points of the opening game. Chen recovered from an early 5-1 deficit in the second game to draw level at 6-6, but An answered with five consecutive points and pulled away again.
The result extended An’s winning streak against Chen to five matches. It also repeated the outcome of their gold medal contest at the 2023 Asian Games, where An claimed the women’s singles title. She will now attempt to become the first player to win consecutive Asian Games gold medals in women’s singles since the event was introduced in 1962.
An will face Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in Tuesday’s final. The South Korean has won their past eight meetings, including a singles match during the team competition at the current Games.
South Korea also secured a place in the women’s doubles final. Lee So-hee and Baek Hana defeated Japan’s Kie Nakanishi and Rin Uesaka 21-13, 21-12. The Korean pair broke open the first game with seven consecutive points after the score reached 7-7, then used an eight-point run in the second game to complete the straight-games victory.
Lee and Baek, silver medalists in 2023, will meet China’s world No. 1 team of Lin Shengshu and Tan Ning on Tuesday. They beat the Chinese pair in the World Championships final in August after losing their previous five encounters. A victory would make them South Korea’s first Asian Games women’s doubles champions since 2002.
South Korea collected two badminton bronze medals on Monday as well. Men’s doubles pair Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae lost 21-11, 21-14 to Indonesia’s Daniel Marthin and Leo Rolly Carnando in a 32-minute semifinal. Yoo Tae-bin, ranked 46th in men’s singles, fell to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew 21-19, 19-21, 21-12. Yoo’s run delivered South Korea its first Asian Games medal in men’s singles since 2010.