Hangzhou, China, December 11, 2023: Korea scored big at the annual Badminton World Federation Player of the Year 2023 awards ceremony on Monday night, with Seo Seung Jae and An Se Young winning the prestigious Male and Female Player of the Year awards respectively.
Seo excelled in both his doubles categories (men’s doubles with Kang Min Hyuk and mixed doubles with Chae Yu Jung), becoming the first male double titlist at the BWF World Championships since 1999. Seo also won four HSBC BWF World Tour titles in the assessment period (1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023).
An was nearly unstoppable, winning 11 titles in the assessment period – including a run of five consecutive titles which included the HSBC BWF World Championships 2023 and the Asian Games gold in Hangzhou.
"It’s a very happy day for me," said An. It’s a perfect ending for this year, it couldn’t have been better. I’m still young and I’m hope I can keep achieving more."
Seo was selected by the BWF Awards Commission ahead of fellow-nominees Viktor Axelsen and world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, while An got the nod over Olympic champion Chen Yufei of China and two-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan.
Speaking to BWF post the awards, Seo said: "It’s a great honour to have this award. It’s not my achievement alone, this is due to the contribution of my partners too. Earlier, I had never performed well on the big stage as I would lose before the semifinals or finals, but I thank my fans for standing by me and I’ll continue to do my best."
The top eight players/pairs in five categories are in Hangzhou for the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals from December 13-17.