Ahn Se-young completely defeats Intanon in the women's singles quarterfinals at the Asian Games... Cruise to 2nd consecutive win

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Myeong-eon = Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), the 'absolute top' in women's singles who is having a hard time finding a suitable opponent, easily reached the semifinals of the Asian Games and took a big step towards becoming the first in the history of the competition to win two consecutive games.

Ahn Se-young, world number one in women's singles, defeated world number five Ratchanok Inthanon (Thailand) 2-0 (21-8 21-9) in the badminton women's singles quarterfinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 27th.

Ahn Se-young, who had a tight schedule of playing both the round of 32 and the round of 16 in one day on the 26th, easily defeated Intanon, the world's 5th ranked veteran, in just 33 minutes in the quarterfinals.

They quickly took the lead by giving up only 8 points in the first game, and in the second game, they gave up only 9 points and finished the game cleanly.

As a result, Ahn Se-young continues to be the strongest player, recording only one loss (52 wins, 1 loss) in 53 games played this year.

Ahn Se-young, who is considered the overwhelming favorite to win this competition, is challenging a new history.

If Ahn Se-young, who swept the team event and singles event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, reaches the top of the singles event at this tournament, she will achieve the great feat of winning two consecutive titles for the first time in the history of the badminton women's singles at the Asian Games.

In the semifinals, they will meet the winner of the match between world No. 4 Chen Yufei (China) and No. 11 Pusala Sindhu (India).

Meanwhile, the men's doubles world No. 1 pair of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho also achieved a thrilling comeback victory of 2-1 (15-21 21-17 21-15) against Japan's Hiroki Nishi and Kakeru Kumagai (world No. 20) in the quarterfinals held on this day.

After being dragged throughout the first game and setting the tone, they turned the situation around by scoring a whopping 10 points in a row in the second game at 3-5, and at the last minute, they beat the Japanese group's fierce pursuit and brought the game back to square one.

Even in the last game, when they were behind 12-13, they secured the victory with 5 consecutive points, putting an end to a long, bloody battle that lasted 1 hour and 9 minutes.

They tied the record for the most wins in a single season by winning 11 gold medals last season, but have not been able to win the title in the last six competitions, but are preparing for this Asian Games stage as a brilliant opportunity to regain their honor.

The women's doubles world ranking pair of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na also defeated Taiwan's Xu Yin-hui and Lin Zhiyun 2-0 (22-20 21-17) to join the semifinals.

After taking the lead after a close deuce in the first game, they widened the score gap by scoring four consecutive points in the second game, 14-13, confirming a complete victory.