'Fewest Conceded Points' Dominant Victory... Just 'One Win' Away from First-Ever Consecutive Titles

[Anchor]

World badminton powerhouse An Se-young is just one win away from claiming the first consecutive titles in women's singles history. She advanced to the final with a dominant victory, conceding the fewest points ever against China's Chen Yufei.

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

[Reporter]

Three years ago in the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games, An Se-young won a fighting-spirit gold medal by defeating Chen Yufei despite suffering a knee injury. This time, she met Chen in the semifinals.

Over the past three years, An has grown into the undisputed world number one, and Chen Yufei was no match for her.

From the very beginning of the match, An seized the momentum by executing brilliant drop shots that caught her opponent off guard, running Chen all over the court to exhaust her while scoring nine consecutive points without giving up a single point.

[Bae Seong-jae / Caster: The expression on the Chinese bench is grim! An Se-young is impregnable right from the first game!]

An claimed the first game by allowing only 5 points. Continuing a one-sided offensive that was hard to believe was a semifinal, she wrapped up the second game 21-12 to win 2-0, leaving her just one win away from the first-ever consecutive titles in the tournament's history.

The 17 points conceded across the two games marked the fewest points she has ever given up against Chen Yufei in their 32 career encounters.

[An Se-young / National Badminton Team: Whatever shots I hit, I did so with confidence, and they went in well. I think a lot of great plays came out as well, and I'll go completely all-out in the final match.]

Just a single step remains until a new piece of history is written.

Today (September 29), An will play the much-anticipated final against Japan's Yamaguchi, ranked world number three.

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

[Lee So-hee / National Badminton Team: With only one game left, exhaustion or anything else doesn't matter. We will pour everything we have into this single game.]

World number 46 Yoo Tae-bin, who sparked a semifinal whirlwind, lost to a Singaporean player and had to settle for a bronze medal in the men's singles, the first for a South Korean player in 16 years.

(Video Shooting: Choi Dae-woong, Video Editing: Lee Jae-sung, Design: Kim Ye-ji)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.