[Nagoya AG] An Seyoung Advances to Semifinals, Overwhelms World No. 5

An Seyoung Defeats Intanon in 33 Minutes in Quarterfinals

World No. 1 Doubles Pair

Seo Seungjae and Kim Wonho Pull Off Comeback Win Against Japanese Duo

In women's singles badminton, An Seyoung of Samsung Life has advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Games, moving closer to her goal of becoming the first player in tournament history to win consecutive titles.

World No. 1 An Seyoung defeated world No. 5 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 2-0 (21-8, 21-9) in the women's singles quarterfinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on September 27.

After playing both the round of 32 and round of 16 matches on a tight schedule the previous day, An Seyoung dispatched the veteran world No. 5 Intanon in just 33 minutes in the quarterfinals. She conceded only 8 points in the first game and just 9 in the second.

Korea's An Se-young is competing against Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon. Photo by Yonhap News

With this victory, An Seyoung has recorded just one loss out of 53 matches this year (52 wins and 1 loss). If she wins the singles title at this year's tournament, having already swept both the team and singles events at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, she will become the first player ever to achieve back-to-back gold medals in women's singles badminton at the Asian Games.

In the semifinals, An Seyoung will face the winner of the match between world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China and No. 11 Pusarla Sindhu of India.

Meanwhile, the world No. 1 men's doubles pair, Seo Seungjae and Kim Wonho, also secured a comeback victory in the quarterfinals held on the same day, defeating Japan's world No. 20 duo Hiroki Nishi and Kakeru Kumagai 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 21-15).

Although Seo and Kim tied the all-time record for the most titles in a single season last season by winning 11 tournaments, they have not managed to win a title in their last six events.

In women's doubles, world No. 2 pair Lee Sohee and Baek Hana also advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 (22-20, 21-17) win over Taiwan's Hsu Yin-Hui and Lin Zhi-Yun.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.