World No. 1 An Se-young advances to quarterfinals of women's singles badminton in Paris Olympics

An Se-young smiles during an interview at the mixed zone after finishing the group preliminaries for women\'s singles badminton at the 2024 Paris Olympics on August 1. Reporter Kim Eun-jin

Badminton player An Se-young (22) finished the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the quarterfinals three years ago.

It was the Olympics that she prepared by training hard without a day off, so she was very sad to lose in the quarterfinals to Chen Yufei of China, who she had always lost whenever they met in a game, and she vowed to do better in the next Olympics with tears in her eyes.

In the second round of the women's singles badminton qualifying round for this year’s Paris Olympics, held at the Port de la Chapelle Arena in Paris, France on July 1, An defeated Qi Xuefei of France 2-0 (21-5, 21-7) in 30 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals. An, the world No. 1, went onto the quarterfinals by a default win.

She won the first round of the group qualifying round on July 29, but she was slow to recover her senses in practice, so there were quite a few mistakes. “The first match was an embarrassing one, but I changed my mind in the second one today and tried to relax, so it turned out well,” An said after winning the second match.

And then she opened up. "I don't know what it feels like, but I feel more pressure than I thought. My condition is fine, but I'm mentally pressured, and thinking like that gave me a hard time because I felt like my body became stiff, but I kept repeating that I could do it."

"I feel a little different from the Tokyo Olympics," An said. "Now that I'm starting out, all I could think about was ’I have to win.‘ I feel suffocated because I have a strong belief that it’s a tournament, and if I lose, it‘s over. At the same time, I also remind myself of the pride of being the No. 1 seed, and I keep thinking, ‘I can do it’ and ‘I’m No. 1 in the world.’”

Two of the biggest names in women‘s singles, Chen Yufei and Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, also participated in the Paris Olympics. There was also an upset on the day as another rival, Tai Tzu-ying of the world No. 3, lost 0-2 to world No. 21 Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand and was eliminated from the preliminary round.

"When Tai Tzu-ying cried after the game, I could relate to it, so I cried even before my game started because I thought I could experience the same thing someday," An said. "It was great to play with such a good player that I respect. I want to hug her when I meet her."

The women’s singles quarterfinals will begin on August 3, and the winner will be decided on the 5th.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.