The last time Korea had a women’s singles No.1 was in 1996, six years before An Se Young was born.

Today the 21-year-old followed in the footsteps of her illustrious predecessor Bang Soo Hyun in ascending to the top of the BWF World Rankings, becoming the first Korean singles No.1 after Son Wan Ho in 2017. An achieved the feat through her incredible consistency over the last 52 weeks, during which she won eight titles from 11 finals in a total of 14 individual tournaments.

Her 2023 season has been nothing short of a fairytale, for she has made 10 finals in 11 tournaments, winning seven of those, besides taking Korea into the final of the Sudirman Cup.

The Korean was trailing Akane Yamaguchi by a few points in the run-up to the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2023 last week, and with her victory in the final on Sunday, vaulted past the two-time world champion.

An reacted to the news of her becoming No.1 by posting in Korean on her Instagram page: “Dream comes true. I’m so happy that the moment I’ve dreamed of can come true. I will strive to achieve more dreams and goals in the future. Thank you all for congratulating and supporting me, and to the team coaches, trainers, video analysts, badminton association and Samsung Life Team Elementary Inc. who helped me reach here. Thank you so much to my whole family.”

In men’s doubles, Olympic champions Lee Yang/Wang Chi-Lin, who won the Japan Open after going two years without a title, moved up four places to No.14.

Click here for the BWF World Rankings