Top-ranked An Se-young leads S. Korea to badminton world team title

S Korea-badminton

Top-ranked An Se-young leads S. Korea to badminton world team title

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- World No. 1 An Se-young has led South Korea to its third world women's team badminton title.

South Korea defeated China 3-1 to take the 2026 Uber Cup, the world team championships in women's badminton, at Forum Horsens in Horsens, Denmark, on Sunday (local time).

South Korea had previously won the biennial competition in 2010 and 2022.

An Se-young of South Korea celebrates after winning the singles match against Wang Zhiyi of China during the finals of the Uber Cup at Forum Horsens in Horsens, Denmark, on May 3, 2026, in this Xinhua photo. (Yonhap)

At the Uber Cup, teams play three singles and two doubles matches, with the first side to win three matches being declared the winner.

An set the tone by dispatching world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi 21-10, 21-13 in the opening singles match. The doubles duo of Lee So-hee and Jeong Na-eun lost to the top-ranked duo of Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning 21-15, 21-12, as China evened the score at 1-1.

But then No. 17 Kim Ga-eun upset fourth-ranked Chen Yufei in the next singles match with a 21-19, 21-15 victory, putting South Korea up 2-1.

Then in the next doubles match, Baek Hana and Kim Hye-jeong took down Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian 16-21, 21-10, 21-13 to clinch the championship.

Players and coaches for the South Korean women's national badminton team pose for photos after winning the Uber Cup title over China at Forum Horsens in Horsens, Denmark, on May 3, 2026, in this Xinhua photo. (Yonhap)

An played the opening singles in all six matches that South Korean played -- three in the group stage, followed by the quarterfinals against Chinese Taipei, semifinals against Indonesia and then the final -- and she won all of them without dropping a game.

In the final, An didn't even let Wang tie her at any point. The South Korean star opened the match with seven straight points and led by as much as 11-2 at one point. In the second game, Wang got it to 12-9 before An closed out the game and the match on a 9-4 run.

An improved to 20-5 all-time against Wang.