Copenhagen, Denmark, August 27, 2023: An Se-young of Korea and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand claimed historic first singles titles in Copenhagen as Asia won all five categories at the BWF World Championships.
World No. 1 An, 21, beat three-time former champion Carolina Marin (Spain) for Korea's first women's singles crown, before Vitidsarn outlasted Naraoka Kodai (Japan) for Thailand's maiden men's singles success.
An, playing in her 11th final from 12 tournaments this year, beat Marin 21-12, 21-10 in 42 minutes.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn made history as well, becoming Thailand's first men's singles world champion after a marathon final against Naraoka Kodai, winning 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 after an hour and 48 minutes.
An told Olympics.com: "It's an amazing day. I am so happy to win."
Having defeated Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei in Saturday's semi-finals, An was in no mood to let left-hander Marin, ranked sixth in the world and Rio 2016 Olympic champion, get a grip in the game.
Earlier, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China became the first pair in history to win three consecutive women's double world titles when they swept past Indonesia's Apriyani Rahayu and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 21-16, 21-12 in 41 minutes.
There was a surprise in the first final of the day as Korea's fifth seeds Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung got the better of China's reigning mixed doubles champions Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong 21-17, 10-21, 21-18.
World No. 6 Seo and Kang Min-hyuk then beat home favourites Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 14-21, 21-15, 21-17 in the men’s doubles.
