JAKARTA - World number one women's singles badminton player, An Se-young, managed to equal Kento Momota's all-time record with 11 titles in one season after he climbed to the highest podium at the 2025 BWF World Tour Finals (WTF).
The South Korean athlete won his 11th title in this year's calendar after defeating China's Wang Zhi Yi in a three-game match with a final score of 21-13, 18-21, and 21-10 in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
The victory made An Se-young the first female singles player in history to reach Kento Momota's record and bring South Korea to the general championship with three titles.
South Korea also took home the title from the men's doubles sector through the pair of Kim Won-ho/Seo Seung-jae who defeated Liang Weikeng/Wang Chang (China) and the women's doubles Baek Ha-na/Lee So-hee who stopped Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto (Japan).
Kim/Seo also managed to win their 11th title in this year's calendar to match Momota. In addition, this result made Seo individually win the 12th title because he previously won another title with his previous partner, Yong Jin.
Two years ago, at this same tournament, An Se-young was on track to equal the record before the opportunity slipped away in the semifinals. She was 19-10 up in the third game against Tai Tzu Ying before an unusual error thwarted her attempt to make history.
This year, An Se-young played the final match against Wang Zhi Yi at a very fast pace. Wang managed to prove himself as a formidable opponent, who during the first two games could test the limits of An Se-young's physical and mental endurance.
Wang, who is the defending champion, then began to tire in the decisive game. Since the beginning of the game, An Se-young performed well and was far ahead to confirm that he would come out as the winner.
In addition to matching Momota's record, the latest victory also made An Se-young break the record as the first player in history to earn more than 1 million US dollars in a calendar year from prize money.
The 23-year-old shuttler already has a salary of more than 763 thousand US dollars before the BWF World Tour Finals begins.
He then won the championship and received an additional 240 thousand US dollars so that his income from tournament prizes this year was above 1 million US dollars.
In addition, An Se-young also recorded a record as the first player in history to record the highest winning percentage. The result against Wang made his winning percentage this year 94.80 percent (73 wins out of 76 matches).
The figures are clearly much higher than those ever achieved by legends such as Lin Dan (92.75 percent in 2011) and Lee Chong Wei (92.75 percent in 2010).
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