*This content was translated by AI.
Ahn Se-young (24, Samsung Life Insurance) filled the last puzzle and achieved the long-awaited Grand Slam. It won the Asian Badminton Championship, which had not been able to reach the championship. It was a valuable fruit achieved by overcoming the variables that caused bleeding during the game as well as the unilateral support for Wang Zhi (China) throughout the game.
Ahn Se-young, world No. 1 in women's singles, beat Wang Zhiyi (2nd) 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 21-18) in the women's singles final of the 2026 Asian Badminton Championships at Ningbo Olympic Sports Center in China on the 12th.
Ahn Se-young, whose silver medal in 2023 was the best individual performance in the tournament, was eliminated from the quarterfinals in 2024 and did not win the Asian Championship, missing last year due to injury. This was the last competition to complete Ahn Se-young's grand slam following the Olympics, the World Championship and the Asian Games, and only on this day, he filled the final puzzle. In addition, Ahn Se-young also achieved a "career grand slam" including the World Tour and the Jeon Young Open. It is the first time for a female singles player.
I overcame all the pressure that must have been great in many ways. First of all, the final match was Wangz. At one point, Ahn Se-young was overwhelmingly strong at the level of natural enemies, but she was also the opponent who suffered a painful defeat in the final of the Jeon Young Open last month. If they lost to Wang Zhi in this final and lost two consecutive games, not only could they fail to win two consecutive tournaments, but also the trend between Ahn Se-young and Wang Zhi could have been completely reversed.
To make matters worse, the battlefield was in China, Wang Zhi's home turf. Throughout the game, the support of Chinese fans cheering for Wang Zhi was conveyed through the broadcast screen. For Ahn Se-young, it was a game that was bound to feel a lot of pressure.
However, Ahn Se-young bullied Wang Zhi with his strategic game management from the beginning of the game. Rather than unreasonable attacks, he shook the opponent with a strategy that consumes the opponent's physical strength. Wang Zhi, who already reached the final after playing a close to an hour of bloodshed in the semifinals the previous day, was helplessly shaken by Ahn Se-young's clever game management. He was even seen breathing heavily from the beginning of the game.
However, Wang Zhi endured with tremendous mental strength with the support of his home fans on his back. On top of that, Ahn Se-young even suffered bleeding in his knee midway through the second game. In the process of defending the opponent's attack, his knee was swept, and he was finally able to play after receiving first aid. Ahn Se-young, who won one game big, was later shaken by Wang Zui's formidable chase.
A situation where the atmosphere could have gone over. Ahn Se-young, however, showed concentration as if she were 'world No. 1'. If the second game failed to overcome the score allowed to the opponent from the beginning, on the contrary, in the third game, Ahn Se-young drove Wang Zui from the beginning, widening the gap to 9-3. Ahn Se-young, who even broke Wang Zhi's last-minute willingness to chase, roared after confirming his victory. Many Chinese fans who visited the stadium to cheer for Wang Zhi also fell silent in an instant.
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*This content was translated by AI.
