An Se-young regains confidence to break China’s domination at KFF Singapore Open

SINGAPORE – Showing great heart, huge lung capacity and an incredible ability to stretch both herself and her opponent, South Korea’s world No. 1 An Se-young put aside her pessimism over knee and thigh injuries to retain her KFF Singapore Badminton Open women’s singles crown on June 2.

In what could be a rehearsal for the Paris Olympic final, she beat China’s world No. 2 and Tokyo Games champion Chen Yufei 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 after an intriguing 77-minute battle at the US$850,000 (S$1.15 million) event.

All week, An had to field questions over her condition. But after picking up the US$59,500 winner’s cheque, the 22-year-old could finally smile as she added to her success at the Malaysia and French Opens in the first quarter of 2024.

“The feeling of becoming a champion again before the Olympics is really important. Now that I’ve won, I feel a lot better and I feel a lot more confident.

“The question marks and doubts sometimes put a lot of pressure on me. However, now I understand it all starts with believing in myself, and I’m so happy that the times when my coach, trainers and I cried and laughed together have paid off.”

Winner of 10 titles in 2023, An had struggled with her recurring injuries that caused her to miss the 3-2 Uber Cup semi-final defeat by Indonesia in May. But after a three-week break, it looks like she is back at her devastating best.

Her supporters at the Singapore Indoor Stadium backed her with constant shouts of “fighting”, a quality which An exemplified when she was already 19-10 up in the decider. Flinging herself left and right for the shuttlecock in a 28-stroke rally, she eventually drew an unforced error from Chen.

She laughed as she compared herself to the character Luffy, who has stretchy arms, from the One Piece manga series, and explained how she built her outstanding stamina: “We have really hard training and when my coaches feel that I lose a point or match because I’m not fit, they will put me through even harder training.

“I really don’t want to do that kind of training again, so I’ll pretend I’m not tired. And when I win, I’m more happy than I’m tired.”

An’s triumph prevented an unprecedented Chinese sweep in the open era, although China still became the first nation to win four events at a single edition for a second time during this period.

Another happy winner who hung on to win a marathon match was men’s singles champion Shi Yuqi, who ripped off his jersey after a comeback 17-21, 21-19, 21-19 win over Li Shifeng.

World No. 2 Shi, who studied in Singapore from 2007 to 2009, has been in a rich vein of form as he won his fourth title of 2024, including the Thomas Cup, in just seven tournaments.

But the 28-year-old Yu Neng Primary School alumnus had to dig deep as he was largely under the cosh against his teammate, who had won their two previous encounters.

After outplaying his opponent in the first game, world No. 6 Li rode a wave of confidence into the next game, where he called for a medical timeout for his right foot at 19-19. Shi then drew from his experience to take the match to a decider.

Shi’s never-say-die attitude came to the fore again when faced with a 16-19 deficit as he kept chipping away to break Asian Games champion Li’s spirit with his solid defence and decisive attacks.

Shi, who could overtake Denmark’s world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen with another top performance at the Indonesia Open next week, said: “This has been a venue where we don’t traditionally do well at, so it’s great to have an all-China final.

“He played really well today and at one point I didn’t think I was going to win. I was lucky at times, and I hope to keep up my form ahead of the Olympics.”

The doubles events were less keenly contested, as the 6,240 fans feasted on world-class badminton.

Mixed doubles world No. 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong beat 28th-ranked Taiwanese Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang 21-11, 21-19. Zheng said he was boosted by the thought of chicken rice, laksa and durian and was looking forward to sampling Singaporean cuisine.

Teammates and fellow world No. 1 Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan retained their women’s doubles title by beating Japan’s fourth-ranked Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-15, 21-12.

Jia said the trust and understanding that have been built in their decade-long partnership are the foundation of their success. “People may call us the strongest team and see us as a great wall but we feel we have built our success brick by brick,” she added.

In the men’s doubles, world No. 10 He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu made a breakthrough at the Super 750 level with a 21-19, 21-14 upset win over Indonesia’s seventh-ranked Fajar Alfian and Rian Ardianto.