An Se Young on Aug. 27 celebrates after winning the women's singles title at this year's Badminton World Federation World Championships at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Hyelin
Video = Badminton World Federation's official YouTube channel

An Se Young is the first Korean to win a world singles title in badminton.

On Aug. 27, she defeated Carolina Marin of Spain in straight sets, 21-12, 21-10, in the final of this year's Badminton World Federation's World Championships at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.

An is the first Korean, male or female, to win a world singles title in the tournament since its launch in 1977.

Her latest victory earned An her eighth gold medal. This year through last month, she had seven wins and three runner-up and one third-place finish to top the world rankings this month.

Before An's milestone, Korea had two runner-ups and nine finishing third over the competition's 46-year history. In 1993, Bang Soo-hyun became the first Korean to make the women's singles semifinals and won the silver. For the men, Park Sung-woo in 1995 finished as singles runner-up.

Meanwhile, Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung on the same day beat world No. 1 Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong from China, 21-17, 10-21, 21-18, to clinch Korea's first world title in mixed doubles since 2003.