An Se Young, Up and Away in 2023
Three weeks, different time zones, different conditions, same result. It’s early in the season, and yet An Se Young needed no time to settle into rhythm. On three successive weeks of the HSBC BWF World Tour in…
· DEV SUKUMAR
Three weeks, different time zones, different conditions, same result. It’s early in the season, and yet An Se Young needed no time to settle into rhythm. On three successive weeks of the HSBC BWF World Tour in January, the Korean made three finals, in Malaysia, India and Indonesia, winning two.
This isn’t the first time she’s done this, either. At the tail end of 2021, the Korean had accomplished this rare feat during the Bali Leg, and what’s more, actually won all three events, culminating with the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2021.
This time she lost the first final, at the PETRONAS Malaysia Open 2023. But given that she’s only 21, and that she’s continuously solving problems that troubled her earlier, the signs are that she’s pulling ahead of the rest of the field. Will she achieve the equivalent of what Viktor Axelsen has achieved in men’s singles over the last few years? Maybe (or maybe not), but she’s well on her way.