An Se-young One Win Away from Badminton History After Dominant Defeat of Rival

[Anchor]

World badminton powerhouse An Se-young is now just one win away from becoming the first female singles player in Asian Games history to win back-to-back gold medals. She advanced to the final after a landslide victory over her rival, China's Chen Yufei—whom she played in an epic final at the Hangzhou Games three years ago—allowing her fewest points ever in a head-to-head match.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story from the scene.

[Reporter]

Three years ago in the final of the Hangzhou Games, An claimed a fighting gold medal by defeating Chen Yufei despite suffering from a knee injury. This time, An faced Chen in the semifinals.

Having grown into the undisputed world number one over the past three years, An left Chen no match for her.

Right from the start of the match, An seized momentum by launching stunning drop shots that caught her opponent off guard, running her ragged across the court and scoring nine consecutive points without conceding a single one.

[Bae Seong-jae / Caster: The expression on the Chinese bench is not looking good! An Se-young is proving to be an impenetrable fortress right from game one!]

Securing the first game while giving up just 5 points, An unleashed an unyielding offensive display hard to believe for a semifinal. She wrapped up the second game 21-12 to claim a 2-0 victory, leaving her just one win away from her historic second consecutive tournament title.

The total of 17 points conceded across both games marked the fewest points she has ever given up against Chen in their 32 career meetings.

[An Se-young / National Badminton Team: Whatever shots I hit, I did so with some confidence, and they went in well. I think a lot of great plays came out of it too. I will leave everything out there in the final match.]

Now, just a single step remains until a new chapter of history is written.

Tomorrow (September 29), An will face Japan's Yamaguchi, ranked world number 3, in the highly anticipated final.

Hangzhou Games women's doubles silver medalists Baek Hana and Lee So-hee also advanced to the final after defeating a Japanese pair, and will eye their first gold medal tomorrow against the world number one Chinese pair.

[Lee So-hee / National Badminton Team: Since there is only one game left, exhaustion or anything else doesn't matter. I will make sure to pour everything I have into this final match.]

Yoo Tae-bin, ranked 46th in the world, who caused a sensation by reaching the semifinals, lost to his Singaporean opponent and had to settle for being satisfied with South Korea's first men's singles bronze medal in 16 years.

(Photo courtesy of Yonhap News / Video by Choi Dae-woong, Video Editing by Lee Jae-sung, Graphics by Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.