"Her eyes changed at 10-10"—An Se-young tears through a brutal two-match day with a merciless "11-point barrage" [20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya]

[Financial News] Neither the draw nor the organizing committee's chaotic, brutal schedule could block the undisputed favorite. When she allowed the score to reach 10-10, the shuttlecock queen's eyes turned fierce, and she suffocated her opponent with 11 ruthless straight points. Even amid the grueling fatigue of playing two matches in one day, An Se-young of Samsung Life was simply untouchable.
The world's No. 1 women's singles player, An Se-young, overwhelmed Sri Lanka's Ranithma Tinudi Weihena Liyanage 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) in just 35 minutes in the round of 16 at the 2026 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya badminton competition, held on the 26th at Ichinomiya Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. She advanced comfortably to the quarterfinals.
An Se-young's biggest opponent that day was not her rival but the "absurd schedule." The organizing committee allocated five days to the team competition and compressed the individual events into just five days. As a result, even top-seeded An was forced to play the round of 32 and round of 16 consecutively on the same day.



But concerns about her stamina proved unfounded. After blitzing Kazakhstan's Kamila Smagulova 21-5, 21-5 in just 20 minutes in the round of 32 around noon, An Se-young displayed her full strength again in the round of 16 seven hours later.
The highlight came in Game 2. After being pushed back by An Se-young's perfect balance of attack and defense, her opponent doggedly battled back to 10-10 and appeared to be seeking a turnaround. But the moment the tie was reached, An's true class exploded. Shifting up a gear, she hammered home 11 consecutive points without surrendering a single one, leaving the Sri Lankan player completely defeated on the court. If An Se-young wins the title at this tournament, she will etch an immortal milestone as the first women's singles player in Asian Games badminton history to win back-to-back titles.

[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter