Se-young believes she still has much ground to cover after conquering worlds

PETALING JAYA: Newly-crowned women’s singles world champion An Se-young (pic) is not planning to rest on her laurels as she wants to achieve more success.

World No. 1 Se-young proved her dominance as the queen of badminton by nailing South Korea’s first world title in the women’s singles after outplaying three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain 21-12, 21-10 in the final at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, last Sunday.

She has gone one step better than Bang Soo-hyun, the last Korean who reached the final in 1993.

Se-young is well aware that the victory did not materialise out of thin air as it was the result of years of effort and hard work.

Despite being overjoyed with her historic gold medal, Se-young believes that she still has much ground to cover in terms of refining her game.

With that in mind, Se-young intends to pull her socks up and work harder as she aims to win the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8) and the 2024 Paris Olympics titles.

“It’s so amazing. I won this for Korea for the first time, so I’m proud of this,” said the 21-year-old champion to the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

“I’m young, but this win is the result of all my hard work over many years.

“My next target is the Asian Games and Olympic gold medals.

“I understand I still have some weaknesses, so I’m going to work on them.”

Playing in front of her family members and receiving their unwavering support has made the difference for her.

Se-young encourages other shuttlers to have the courage to dream big.

“My family was here to support me, so I couldn’t lose the game,” said Se-young.

“While training, I was visualising all this, and because I dreamed it, it came true.

“If we don’t dream it, it won’t come true.”

Se-young has been performing consistently to reach 11 finals in 12 tournaments so far this year.

The world title was her eighth this season after winning the Indian, Thailand, Singapore, Korean, and Japan Opens, and the Indonesian Masters and All England.

She was runner-up in the Malaysian Open, German Open and Asian Championships.

Se-young will now shift her focus to the China Open where she will face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in the opening round at Changzhou Olympic Sports Centre Xincheng Gymnasium in Changzhou on Tuesday.