There are some stunning pointers to the An Se-young-Chen Yufei rivalry that are thanks only to the surfeit of matches they play, in what is otherwise a much-maligned badminton circuit, where top names keep running into each other. Injury to Yufei intervened to deny another chapter to this saga at Malaysia. But the two have met 28 times at all sorts of big and small venues, which means the last two Olympic champions are embroiled in a loopy repetitive battle, as high-viz as construction supervisors’ neons when working the night shift. It stands out in the fog.
Make no mistake – the high propensity to battle, the voluminous quantity hasn’t dulled the quality in their games, though scorelines are varied, and subject to fitness, from straight sets with single digit points to three set epics. But the rivalry that started in 2018 (same year as when Sincaraz turned pro, and have tallied 16 matches, with 10 to Alcaraz), is currently 28-matches long, poised tantalizingly at 14-14.
The aforementioned stunning stat isn’t how there’s almost parity, though Yufei’s ability to withstand that dominant onslaught in the era of An Se-young (she won 73 of 77 matches in 2025) is hugely under-rated. It is how the two, separated by 4 years (nice Olympic metaphor too) in age, have kept each other on their toes, bookended by startlingly hopeless periods of dominance. Yufei won the first 7 times she played Se-young. The Korean has won 10 of the last 14.
It’s worth mentioning that Se-young emerged at the fag end of several careers of the golden generation – Carolina Marin, Okuhara-Yamaguchi, Tai Tzu-ying, He Bingjiao and even PV Sindhu. That is to say her prime caught and scythed at all of them on their down-curves. Which means one can only speculate if Marin’s top speed could’ve held her at bay, or if peak Tai Tzu-ying could’ve parried her relentless attack with misdirections. This whole week at Malaysia, before she takes on Wang Zhiyi in the final, Se-young played three opponents who have never won against her in more than a dozen attempts. This includes Nozomi Okuhara. Sindhu hasn’t come close to defeating the Korean in 8 matches, though Irwansyah’s tactics and preparation raise hopes that it might happen. Someday.
But does it mean the Chinese (Yufei more than Wang Zhiyi) are the only ones with a semblance of an answer to the intractable ASY puzzle? On current evidence, that’s a resounding Yes. The Chinese badminton system is in the business of maintaining dominance, and An Se-young is simply the current thorn in their flesh. But it’s no surprise that entire coaching cohorts in China look to find ways to take down the Korean, and the likes of He Bingjiao first and Yufei thereafter, have focussed their efforts on regaining the crown from her, and have found limited success as compared to rest of the world.
Smooth net deception. 👏
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Wang Zhiyi losing 7 of her 8 finals to Se-young, and starting this season with another makes 2026 a year of China vs An Se-young. But fitness permitting, only Chen Yufei seems to hold the cryptic clues to the problem that is the Korean, if not the key. Unsurprisingly, the focus is inward and not on any weaknesses of Se-young which are almost none.
Speaking to BWF at the start of the year, Yufei said, “On a scale of 10 for maximum performance, if I can play at level eight or nine I’d stand a chance. Anything less than I’d lose. But the same is true for any opponent.” That last line adds an air of nonchalance and unperturbedness to what is frankly a very tough opponent to break down. But even if she pulled out with injury from Axiata, Yufei was clear in telling BWF that it was consistency and not perfection that could defeat Se-young.
The Korean reads the game a few frames faster than most, has the footwork to get under the shuttle to smoothen her defense, and easy attacking clean lines, to finish rallies. The only way to chip at her rhythm is sustained and compulsive new tricks in angles and persistence to weather her storms. Tai Tzu-ying hardly found sustained success against her, because the Korean can’t be disarmed by deception – she takes it in her sure stride. What the two Chinese Bingjiao and Yufei have done, and what Wang Zhiyi is encouraged to do is play a relentlessly technical style, switching gameplans and thinking on the feet, which Yufei does better than most.
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Sindhu has been washed out the few times she’s reached the decider against Se-young. She’s aimed at her 10/10 game in pushing for a third set. But like Yufei says, maybe a sustained level of 9/10 over three sets is a better bet than 10/10, 10/10 in the first two sets and an energy dipped and tactically drained out 5/10 in the third.
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