Badminton An Se-young Secures Silver Medal... Women's Singles Final in 28 Years [Paris Olympics]

World No. 1 An Seyoung secured the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is the first time in 28 years since Bang Soo-hyun, the gold medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Games, that a female badminton singles player has reached the Olympic final.

Ahn Se-young clenches her fist after scoring against Indonesia's Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 4th, An Seyoung advanced to the final by defeating world No. 8 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (Indonesia) 2-1 (11-21, 21-13, 21-16) in the women's singles semifinal held at Porte de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, France.

Her opponent in the final will be either world No. 4 Carolina Marin (Spain) or No. 9 He Bingjiao (China). The originally expected final opponent, her "nemesis" Chen Yufei (China), was eliminated after losing to He Bingjiao in the semifinals.

In the first game, An Seyoung seemed to be less warmed up and struggled, conceding four consecutive points at the start. She gave her opponent several chance shots, was hit by smashes, and made consecutive receiving errors, causing the score gap to widen. Ultimately, she suffered a defeat by nearly double the score, losing by 10 points.

In the second game, An Seyoung began scripting a comeback victory. Leading by three points early on, she was chased to 6-5, but was fortunate when a hairpin shot hit the net and crossed over, preventing her opponent from equalizing. She then displayed sharp attacks consecutively and finished the game with an 8-point lead.

Tunjung raised her pace in the final stages, closing the gap from 6-15 to 13-16, putting pressure on An Seyoung. After a tense rally, An Seyoung scored with a hairpin followed by a push to extend her lead to 18-13, and easily reached 20 points due to her opponent's consecutive errors. After conceding three points, An Seyoung secured game point with a powerful smash.