Even After Decisive Loss to An Se-young, Yamaguchi Says, "It's Wonderful to Have Someone to Challenge"

▲ An Se-young and Akane Yamaguchi meet in the final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

From an outsider's perspective, it might seem harsh for competitors who have to play in the same era as An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who stands as an overwhelmingly dominant "sole powerhouse."

This is because, despite possessing world-class skills, they are repeatedly pushed aside by An Se-young's relentless solo run and forced to remain in second place.

However, the pride of a true competitor was different.

Yamaguchi, who had to settle for a silver medal after being blocked by An Se-young's high wall in the final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, showed true sportsmanship, saying, "Having an athlete that I can continually challenge and fight against is a truly wonderful and great thing for me right now."

Standing at 156 cm, the "pocket dynamo" Yamaguchi is a bona fide world-class player who has captured three World Championships titles and reigned as the world number one for 74 weeks.

Despite her mature age of 28, she firmly maintains the world number three ranking and is regarded as one of the few formidable challengers currently threatening An Se-young.

However, facing the unstoppable An Se-young, Yamaguchi put past glories behind her and thoroughly embraced the role of a challenger.

Speaking to reporters in the mixed zone after the final match, she said, "An Se-young is such a strong player that I wouldn't go as far as saying I had nothing to lose, but I approached the match with a mindset of 'taking on a challenge.' Rather than wanting to avoid her just because she is too strong, I actually think it's great to have an opponent to challenge."

Although Yamaguchi recently fell into a nine-match losing streak against An Se-young, she showed her resilience by taking a game off An Se-young in the women's team semifinals held prior to the individual events.

It was a rare game dropped by An Se-young, who had swept the World Championships and China Masters with flawless performances.

Yamaguchi confessed, "I approached the match by combining my experience playing against An Se-young at the past All England Open and the strategy from when I defeated world number two Wang Zhiyi (China) the day before. There were good aspects, but in the end, I wavered."

She continued, "I was blocked by An Se-young's defense and couldn't keep up the pressure with consecutive attacks, and the momentum kept breaking, forcing me to restart rallies from scratch. No matter how good your condition is, you cannot always completely break down your opponent, so I think I need to ponder more on one or two sure scoring options I can pull out in situations like this, or game strategies that An Se-young might find tricky."

Earlier that day, Yamaguchi went all out from the start of the first game, launching a fierce attack to seize the early initiative.

However, An Se-young neutralized all of Yamaguchi's attacks with relaxed defense to take the first game, and in the second game, she restricted an exhausted Yamaguchi to just 9 points, bringing the match to an early close.

Despite the defeat, Yamaguchi pointed out, "In this match, my attacks connected well for points, and I held on without easily giving up points during long rallies or defensive situations. I believe that dragging out rallies like this can also induce unforced errors from An Se-young."

She added with resolute determination, "Since recklessly raising the tempo could instead result in my own unforced errors, I will maintain a stable pace and refine my balance between offense and defense."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)

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