Olympic champion An Se-young of South Korea made a strong start at the 2025 All England Open Badminton Championships, securing a straight-game victory over China’s Gao Fang Jie on Wednesday. The defending champion eased through with a 21-16, 21-14 win to advance to the second round.
In the men’s singles, world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand also progressed after defeating China’s Weng Hong Yang 22-20, 21-11. However, the biggest surprise of the day came when two-time Olympic gold medalist Viktor Axelsen suffered an early exit. The Danish star, aiming for his third All England title, was upset by Lin Chun-yi of Chinese Taipei in a tightly contested match, losing 21-19, 13-21, 21-11.
The second day of action in Birmingham saw more unexpected results. Eighth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan was eliminated by countryman Yushi Tanaka in a three-game battle (21-13, 15-21, 21-9). In the women’s draw, India’s PV Sindhu, the 2019 world champion, fell to South Korea’s Kim Ga Eun in a 21-19, 13-21, 13-21 defeat.
The tournament has already witnessed several upsets, with seventh-seeded Lee Zii Jia and Denmark’s top-ranked men’s doubles pair Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen crashing out on the opening day. Meanwhile, defending men’s champion Jonatan Christie of Indonesia began his title defense with a victory on Tuesday.
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