(Asiad) With 2nd straight gold, An Se-young cements case as greatest shuttler of her generation

ICHINOMIYA, Japan, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- At 24 and still in her athletic prime, shuttler An Se-young has already accomplished more in the past couple of years than what many would take their entire career to achieve.

She won the world titles in 2023 and 2026, and also an Olympic gold in 2024. She has held the No. 1 ranking in the women's singles for over 100 weeks. In 2025, An won a record 11 international titles and became the first player in badminton history to earn over US$1 million in prize money in a season.

The South Korean star etched her name in the record books once again Tuesday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in central Japan. By beating Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the women's singles final by 2-0 (21-17, 21-9), An became the first player to win back-to-back women's singles gold medals in the competition's history. The women's singles was first contested in 1962.

With her latest triumph, An further cemented her case as the greatest badminton player of her generation -- if not all time.

Despite the strong level of competition in Asia, An reached the top of the podium here with stunning ease.

The top four players in the women's singles world rankings all hail from Asia, with An trailed by Wang Zhiyi of China, Yamaguchi and Chen Yufei of China. All four of these players made the semifinals here, and at this year's world championships in August, An, Yamaguchi and Wang occupied the top three places -- with An beating Wang in the semifinals and then Yamaguchi in the final.

An did not drop a game en route to her world title then and accomplished the same feat this time.

An won her first match over Kamila Smagulova of Kazakhstan in 17 minutes. In the next round, An needed 32 minutes to dispatch Ranithma Liyanage of Sri Lanka. Her quarterfinal victory over Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand lasted 31 minutes.

It took An 38 minutes to eliminate Chen Yufei of China in the semifinals. The South Korean had her longest match of this competition in Tuesday's final, as she needed 49 minutes to take care of Yamaguchi.

The gold medal match, though, was more lopsided than the final score indicates, especially from the midway point of the first game and on. There were rallies when Yamaguchi appeared to be exerting her max effort, whereas An still won points while in cruise control.

The final featured all the traits that make An such an unstoppable force. She is a tenacious defender who can track down difficult shots, and she can run opponents into the ground in extended rallies thanks to her stamina, patience and superb court coverage.

An insisted afterward the match was not as easy as she made it seem, though she did not sound very convincing.

"Yamaguchi is a great defender, and she is really fast. I had to think long and hard about how to play her," An said. "But I tend to be mistake-prone when I think too much out there, and so I wanted to make quick decisions on the court today. It worked out well."