An Se-young Makes History: First Korean Woman to Achieve Career Grand Slam at 2026 Badminton Asia Championships

An Se-young / Photo=DB

[Sports Today reporter Lee Sang-pil] NINGBO, China — World No. 1 An Se-young, long regarded as badminton’s queen, clinched the 2026 Asian Badminton Championships title and completed her career Grand Slam.

On April 12 (Korean time), An beat Wang Zhiyi of China (world No. 2) 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 21-18) in the women’s singles final on Court 1 at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Center.

An had already claimed Olympic gold (Paris 2024), the World Championships (2023) and the Asian Games (Hangzhou 2022), but the Asian Championships had eluded her — until now. With this victory, she completed the career Grand Slam.

She becomes the first South Korean woman in history to achieve that milestone.

The win also avenged her loss to Wang in last month’s All England Open final and extended their head-to-head to 19-5 in An’s favor.

An grabbed the early initiative. The opening game featured tight exchanges, but as it progressed An began to pull away while Wang committed a string of unforced errors. An closed the first game comfortably, 21-12.

Wang fought back in the second. She opened aggressively and forced An off her rhythm, building an early lead. An tried to claw back, but Wang held firm and took the second game, 21-17.

In the deciding third game, An raced out to a run of points and built a big lead as Wang showed signs of fatigue — the score hit 9-3 and the momentum looked to be firmly with An.

Pushed to the brink, Wang summoned her reserves and mounted a comeback, slowly erasing the deficit and knotting the match at 15-15.

An kept her composure. She reeled off four straight points from 15-15 to move ahead 19-15. Wang cut the margin to one, but An forced errors and finished the final set 21-18 to claim the gold.

[Sports Today reporter Lee Sang-pil sports@stoo.com]
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