An Se-young Chases Back-to-Back Asian Games Gold
An Se-young hasn't dropped a single game in eleven matches since early August. She's the reigning world No. 1 in women's singles, she's held that ranking for 100 straight weeks as of Sept. 8, and she's about to walk into an Asian Games where no Korean badminton player — man or woman — has ever defended a singles gold. Ask her about the pressure, though, and she won't take the bait: "Every match, every player is a rival. You never know what problems might arise during a game," she told reporters this month.
That refusal to relax is basically the whole story of South Korea's build-up to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which open Sept. 19 across Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, and run through Oct. 4. An arrives with two golds from Hangzhou already in hand and arguably the best form of her career behind her. She still won't say the word "favorite" out loud.
A Title Defense Built on Playing Through Pain
The form is the part worth sitting with. An withdrew from the Japan Open in the round of 32 back in July with left foot pain, then skipped two more tournaments to let it heal. She came back at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi on Aug. 23 and beat Japan's Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-14 in the final at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium for her second world title, after Copenhagen in 2023. Asked about it afterward, she didn't dress it up: "There is virtually no tournament during the season where I compete completely pain-free. I just step onto the court believing I can endure it and handle it."
A week later she won the China Masters in Shenzhen too, beating Tomoka Miyazaki 21-17, 21-6 in a final that lasted 45 minutes. It was her third straight China Masters title, and she didn't drop a single game across all five matches in the draw. Her head-to-head against Miyazaki is now 8-0. Across both tournaments combined, that's eleven wins with zero games lost. If you're picking a moment for a badminton player to peak, six weeks before defending an Olympic-adjacent title is the moment.
The Record No Korean Has Ever Defended
Three years ago in Hangzhou, An beat China's Chen Yufei 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 21-8) on Oct. 8, 2023, for the women's singles gold, and Korea took the women's team gold in the same Games with her on the roster. This time the challenge is bigger than a repeat: no Korean badminton player, male or female, has ever won back-to-back Asian Games singles gold. Win it in Japan and she's the first.
The schedule, for anyone tracking it: the women's team event opens Sept. 20 at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, with the individual bracket, An's singles title defense included, running Sept. 25 through the final on Sept. 29. I checked that against the Games' own overall window (Sept. 19-Oct. 4) and it hasn't shifted since it was first published in the spring.
The Numbers Say Otherwise
It would be easy to read all this as one dominant player carrying a team, and China's own press has tried that framing before backing off it. China Sports Daily called Korea's squad a "two-power dynamic" with China this year and admitted the "depth of the talent pool is evident to anyone" — not the kind of thing state sports media says about a one-woman show. The receipts back it up: Korea beat China 3-1 in the Uber Cup final in Horsens, Denmark, in May for its third Uber Cup title ever (after 2010 and 2022), with An opening the tie by beating world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi 21-10, 21-13. At the same Worlds where An won singles, Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee beat China's Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning for gold in women's doubles. It was Korea's first Worlds doubles title in 31 years.
So the team gold Korea is defending in Aichi isn't riding on one racket. That's worth knowing before you assume China simply gets its Uber Cup loss back on home continental soil.
Ahead of departure, the Korea Badminton Association posted a send-off message from the squad on Sept. 12. An's line: "We will do our utmost to bring inspiration and strength to the people. We ask for your continued interest and support." Teammate Kim Ga-eun, on her second Asian Games, added that the goal is winning the team event and placing in the individual draw. That's a more modest target than An's, and a reasonable one for someone not currently unbeaten in eleven matches.
Where International Fans Can Watch
If you're in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or elsewhere in the subcontinent, this one's easy: Sony Sports Network holds exclusive broadcast rights, with streaming on SonyLIV. Elsewhere it's murkier. As of this week, no broadcaster is confirmed for the US, UK, Australia, or Canada, badminton included, so don't count on a free stream turning up on short notice. Worth checking the Badminton Asia and BWF channels closer to Sept. 20 in case a digital feed opens up outside the subcontinent.
One quirk makes this easier than most K-sports coverage: Japan runs on the same clock as Korea, so there's no KST conversion to do here. If you're on US Eastern time, Aichi is 13 hours ahead in late September; in the UK, it's 8 hours ahead. Once match times land on the official schedule, that's the math to apply.
An hasn't lost a game since her foot forced her out of a tournament in July.
Whether that holds up for nine more days in Japan is the actual question, not whether she wants it.
This is a running news series, not a one-off post — new stories go up twice a day, roughly 7am and 7pm Korea time.
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