*This content was translated by AI.
Ahn Se-young (24), world No. 1 in badminton women's singles, overcame the physical burden in the round of 16 of the first tournament of the 2026 season and continued her challenge to win.
Ahn Se-young beat Nozomi Okuhara (21-17, 21-7) in the round of 16 of the 2026 World Badminton Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 1000 Malaysia Open at 10 a.m. on the 8th (Korea time).
On this day, Ahn Se-young struggled with a rather heavy movement at the beginning of the game. After the first goal, he allowed consecutive runs to lead to 5-9, and eventually faced the interval with a 8-11 deficit. It was not easy enough to catch Ahn Se-young sighing on the broadcast screen.
Veteran Okuhara, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics and former world No. 1, attacked Ahn Se-young by inducing a drive-by.
In a crisis situation, Ahn Se-young changed the strategy to use the coat widely. Okuhara's physical strength was cut with a shot that poked every corner of the left and right. Ahn Se-young, who tied the score 15-15 after a persistent chase, induced an opponent's error and succeeded in turning the tables 16-15. Since then, Ahn Se-young has scored consecutive points from 17 points with her unique determination, and finished the first game 21-17 with perfect smashing.
The two games were overwhelming. Ahn Se-young won 11 points in a row and took the lead early. Okuhara, who was discouraged from chasing, finally gave up the game, realizing the difference in skills. Ahn Se-young succeeded in advancing to the quarterfinals by bringing two games after a one-sided flow.
However, Ahn Se-young's physical strength problem has been constantly discussed in this competition. In the first round (the round of 32) held on the 6th, he won 2-1 (19-21 21-16 21-18) after 1 hour and 15 minutes of blood fight against world No. 12 Michelle Lee of Canada.
At that time, Ahn Se-young poured out her physical strength by going around the court for 75 minutes, and her recovery was not complete because she played again in two days.
It is the aftermath of last season's compulsory military campaign. Ahn Se-young won 11 gold medals, including last year's BWF World Tour Finals, setting records with the most wins (11 wins), the highest winning rate (94.8%), and more than $1 million (about 1.4 billion won) in cumulative prize money. However, he played 77 games (3479 minutes), the second-most after Wang Zhi (China), and took only about two weeks off after the last tournament before entering the new season.
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*This content was translated by AI.
