Who can beat An se Young at Paris Olympics? Tzu Ying, Carolina Marin, PV Sindhu, Chen Yufei, Akane Yamaguchi all gunning for Badminton gold | Badminton News

An Se Young might have nailed down her first World Championship in 2023 to herald an era of her dominance. But women’s singles right now can hardly be expected to be a straightforward succession, where she can ring in the new year, hoping for an assured march towards the Paris Olympics title.In a casual reminder of her still-enchanting qualities, badminton’s grand Dame of Deception, Tai Tzu Ying rattled off a 9 point deficit after being a set and 10-19 down against Se Young. At the World Tour Finals semifinals in Hangzhou, TTY saved 4 match points to deny the Korean heiress to global domination, a year-ending title. The Taiwanese would proceed to pick yet another Tour-wrapping crown, as the Chinese spectators were floored her near-perfection.
Tzu Ying isn’t as adventurous in every shot as she used to be, the trick shots get retrieved often. But the brilliance of her solid base game is such that even without the deceptive dazzle, there’s enough in her tactical game to outwit the best in the world. A silver at Tokyo and a still-missing World Championship means she heads into Paris with the hunger for a last dance intact.
Letting An Se Young and the rest of the world know that she wasn’t finished just yet, and finding her way into the final was Spaniard, former Olympic champion, Carolina Marin. The three-time World Champion who won Rio gold, is back from two extended challenging ACL setbacks. On the home stretch to defend her title after patiently rehabbing from one KO’d knee, Marin was felled in the other leg. She gave it nearly two different seasons to reset the building blocks of her once-speedy game, before fetching up on the circuit after a prolonged absence at the start of this year.
Winner, South Korea’s An Se-young, second left, Spain’s Carolina Marin, left, who finished second, China’s Chen Yu Fei and Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi who finished in joint third, stand on the podium after the Women’s final singles match of the BWF World Championship, at the Royal Arena, in Copenhagen, Denmark on Aug. 27, 2023. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Marin has steadily made finals and her combative spirit was on full display when she battled PV Sindhu in the latest edition. At one point, she was gunning to match Lin Dan’s record of World titles. The injuries would break her heart, but not her resolve to return for what she believed was unfinished business of global titles. She’s a fair few seconds off her usual bustling pace when lunging, and that has considerably reduced her effectiveness. She can no longer crowd and rush opponents and drag them into her whirlpool attack. But her sheer stubbornness in long rallies remains, as she’s found new ways to hassle opponents. The backhand down the lines are on a roll.
Making the finals last week at the World Tour Finals, Marin conveyed her intent to challenge for more titles in coming months, including not ruling herself out of the charge on Paris, as close to a home Olympics as there could be in Europe. The titles haven’t rained down besides the European Championships, but there’s been 8 finals this season. It’s easy to forget for she didn’t win those, but Marin made finals of both World Tour Finals and World Championships, the year’s biggest. She also made the Sunday summit at Indonesia and Denmark as she re-entered the Top 5 year end.
Marin first won the World Championship in 2014 at Copenhagen, ten years ago. The incomplete relentless ambition of a second Olympic title, means Marin continues her pursuit of excellence at 30, a decade on. An Se Young’s hopes of her first Games title will run into the mighty iron will of Marin, come Paris. There’s no heir from Europe on the horizon, but Marin continues to signal she’s not winding down anytime soon.
Chen Yufei won Tokyo gold but has faced a slew of defeats in finals since. The Asiad finals loss this year means her appetite remains unsatiated. She’s seldom looked invincible in the course of a tournament, but the planning and plotting and peaking for Tokyo gold was so spot-on from the Chinese that you can’t not expect an encore. Always canny and cerebral with light footed movements, Yufei’s game lies in countering any form of attack.
The Chinese has three bronzes and a silver from Worlds, and in the absence of a ready baton carrier, Yufei is expected to carry Chinese hopes into the coming year. The Sino Korean rivalry is one of the world’s most hostile ones. And expect An Se Young to find deep resance from Chen Yufei, as the Olympics fetch up.
Of the 9 times they’ve faced off in 2023, Se Young has won 6 times, including the Asian Games final and the World Championships semis. Yufei had beaten a younger, though much-touted Se Young at Tokyo Olympics quarters, and there’s plenty of scores to settle, the sorts where entire coaching teams and analysts from either side get involved to out-think the arch rival. It spices up a rivalry, but moreover, just the challenge of beating back Se Young replenishes the competitive juices of Yufei.

While Gregoria Mariska Tunjung has slid into the vacating slot of Ratchanok Intanon, both in style and the gentle challenge she flings at opponents, much of the core of women’s singles golden generation has kept itself patched up, to make 2024 a glorious last dance of this stupendous bunch.
Nozomi Okuhara, returning from a long injury layoff, is traversing the globe in desperate search of points to make the grade for Paris. While Akane Yamaguchi is not to be seen since the Asiad, and has skipped the backend of this season, she is expected to turn up with renewed focus and aim for the medal that she couldn’t hunt down at Tokyo. Japan has unleashed the 17 year old Tomoka Miyazaki on the lower rungs, and she is expected to start clambering up the rankings soon. But don’t discount one final push from Yamaguchi in the first six months as she aims for an Olympic medal.
Not that she needed peer pressure to push herself, but the combined surge of the rest of the golden generation has the potential to reignite ambition in PV Sindhu. She and Marin went at each other at Denmark, and it was clear, the Spaniard can draw the best out of the Indian, even fangs and all.
An Se Young enjoys a 6-0 stranglehold over Sindhu, and that alone should rev up the Indian’s resolve to not end her career without giving one back. Sindhu hasn’t beaten Tai Tzu Ying since the 2019 World Championships, and there are very fresh scores to settle with Marin after their last pow-wow. She’s the only one from the golden generation to be missing the All England title, and has declared she will gun for gold at Paris.

Her coaching choices are up for debate, but she’s at least shown her intent to forget all about the losses and triumphs of the past, and give Paris a good go. And join the line of unquenched ambitions for 2024. The smartest call would be to get India’s canniest brain, Pullela Gopichand in her corner, for no one has plotted better against the assorted might of the golden generation as well as he has. The likes of Marin, Yufei, Se Young, Yamaguchi and Tai Tzu Ying will land up at Paris with their finest support systems, and it is evident Sindhu is missing out on an obvious trick when chasing that coveted gold. Still, 2024 is lucky badminton’s finest in women’s singles are determined to line up one last time all together, before galloping into a glorious sunset. It’s not just An Se Young.