An Se-young of South Korea competes against Kamila Smagulova of Kazakhstan in the women's singles round of 32 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
An Se-young of South Korea competes against Kamila Smagulova of Kazakhstan in the women's singles round of 32 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

An Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance, widely regarded as the undisputed top contender in women's badminton singles, opened her individual campaign with a dominant 20-minute victory Saturday, launching her bid to become the first player in Asian Games history to win the women's singles title twice in a row.

The world No. 1 in women's singles dispatched Kamila Smagulova of Kazakhstan 2-0 (21-5, 21-5) in the round of 32 at Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The performance was as commanding as the scoreline suggested. Smagulova struggled to find any offensive opening against An's airtight defense from the outset, while An widened the gap with sharp, precise attacks that exploited every opening in her opponent's court.

After taking the first game 21-5 with ease, An maintained her momentum in the second, conceding just five points again to close out the match in a mere 20 minutes.

With the round of 32 and round of 16 scheduled on the same day, An conserved her energy throughout, surrendering only 10 points across both games as she advanced to the last 16 comfortably.

She will next face Sri Lanka's Ranitma Thinudi Weihena Liyanage in the round of 16.

An enters the tournament as the overwhelming favorite to claim the title. Should she win the singles gold, she will become the first player in Asian Games badminton history to win the women's singles event at two consecutive Games — having swept both the team and singles titles at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com