Korean badminton ruled the World Championships with two gold medals. The women's doubles team struck gold again after 31 years, and An Se-young of Samsung Life Insurance, a pride of Korean sports, once again lived up to her reputation.
Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na, the world No. 3 women's doubles pair, rewrote Korean badminton history. In the women's doubles final at the 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships held in New Delhi, India, on the 23rd, the pair defeated China's world No. 1 team of Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 2-0 (21-15, 21-15). It was the first women's doubles world title for Korea in 31 years, since Gil Young-ah and Jang Hye-ock won at the 1995 tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Lee and Baek are former champions who once held the world No. 1 ranking for 12 weeks. The victory ended a recent four-match losing streak against the current top-ranked pair and restored their standing.
The title came about eight months after Lee and Baek won their second consecutive World Tour Finals crown late last year. Consistently reaching the podium at major stages this season — a silver at the Malaysia Open, a bronze at the India Open and a silver at the All England Open — the pair finally conquered the World Championships as well.
Baek held firm at the net to disrupt the opponents' rhythm, while Lee dominated the court from the back with wide-ranging defense and sharp attacks.
The Korean pair took command by scoring five straight points at the start of the first game, then controlled play without allowing a single tie to take the opening set.
Early in the second game, they faced a fierce push from the Chinese pair looking to fight back, but quickly regained momentum with three straight points at 4-4.
At 7-5, Lee's surprise half-smash landed in the court for three more points in a row, pulling ahead to 10-5. Late in the game they allowed the opponents to close to 13-12, but scored with remarkable focus in a rally that lasted 67 shots, sweeping five straight points to secure the win at 18-12.
In the women's singles final that followed, "Shuttlecock Queen" An Se-young cleared away all concerns about lingering injury and reclaimed her World Championships title after three years. The world No. 1 in women's singles beat world No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 2-0 (21-17, 21-14).
It was An's second World Championships title. In 2023, she became the first Korean to win the singles event at the World Championships, but at the most recent tournament in 2025 she lost to Chen Yufei of China in the semifinals and had to settle for a bronze.
This season, An showed overwhelming form, sweeping gold at all seven tournaments she entered, but she raised concerns last month when she withdrew from the Japan Open with a foot injury.
The pain in her left foot has been a chronic problem that has troubled An since the Paris Olympics, deepening the worry, but after a month of rehabilitation she offered reassurance, saying it was "at a level I can endure and control." From the round of 64 through the final at this tournament, she confirmed her standing as the best with near-perfect play, not dropping a single game.
