ICHINOMIYA — An Se-young, the world's top-ranked women's singles badminton player, breezed into the Asian Games quarterfinals with a pair of dominant performances.
An beat Sri Lanka's Ranithma Thinudi Weihena Liyanage 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) in just 35 minutes in the round of 16 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on the 26th at the Ichinomiya Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Earlier in the day, she had dispatched Kazakhstan's Kamila Smagulova 2-0 (21-5, 21-5) in only 20 minutes in the round of 32.
An had to get through the punishing schedule of two matches in a single day. The Olympics and the Asian Games, which typically combine team and individual events, usually allot four days to the team competition and six to the individual draw. This time, however, the team event took five days, compressing the individual competition into five.
Given a bye in the round of 64, An played her round-of-32 match around noon and returned to the same venue about seven hours later for the round of 16.
Even after wrapping up the first match with ease, An did not hide her unease about the format. "I've never played two matches in one day, so I wasn't sure how to handle it," she said. "It was an awkward stretch of time — not quite enough to go back to the athletes' village and come out again."
Her mental composure held firm, though. "Nothing really changes, because either way I have to stay focused when I'm on court," An said with a smile. "At the athletes' village I worked out three times a day, so I'll draw on that experience and play well."
