[Paris Olympics] Badminton An Se-young Advances to Final Against He Bingjiao... Leading Head-to-Head Record (Summary)

Reaching the Women's Singles Final for the First Time in 28 Years

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

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 4th, An Se-young 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 the Porte de la Chapelle arena in Paris, France.

Her opponent in the final, held on the afternoon of the 5th, is world No. 9 He Bingjiao of China. He Bingjiao upset world No. 2 Chen Yufei, who was originally expected to face An Se-young, in the quarterfinals and defeated world No. 4 Carolina Marin (Spain) in the semifinals. In their head-to-head record, An Se-young leads 8-5.

In the first game, An Se-young seemed to be not fully warmed up, struggling after conceding four consecutive points early in the match. She gave her opponent several chance shots, suffered smashes, and made consecutive receiving errors, causing the score gap to widen. Ultimately, she lost by nearly double the score with a 10-point difference.

In the second game, An Se-young began scripting a comeback victory. Leading by three points early on, she was chased down 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 won by an 8-point margin.

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