Seo, An, Chen/Jia take 2023 BWF Player of the Year honours as Axelsen misses out – discover list of winners
Doubles specialist Seo Seung-jae beats Viktor Axelsen to the BWF's top men's award while Republic of Korea compatriot An Se-young scoops women's award. Chinese women's doubles team Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan took the pair crown.
Badminton
Seo Seung-jae, An Se-young, and Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan were the big winners on Monday (11 December) as badminton's annual awards were handed out at a gala dinner in Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
The Republic of Korea's An was a hot favourite to take the BWF Female Player of the Year award, having won 11 titles in the award window dating back to last November. This season, she has won 10 events and reached 13 finals (out of 14), and there was no real surprise when she was named the winner.
Her compatriot Seo, meanwhile, was perhaps a surprise – albeit deserving – winner of the BWF Male Player of the Year award, beating out singles world number one Viktor Axelsen to the crown. Seo became the first man in 24 years to win two different events at the BWF World Championships 2023 as he struck gold in both men's doubles and mixed doubles, with his successes earning him the overall award.
The BWF Pair of the Year title went to Asian Games and world champions Chen and Jia, who made six consecutive finals this year from July to October and won five of them, including the two big Championship events.
This is the last year of the current awards structure, in which nominees are selected by the BWF Council based on performances from 1 November the previous season to 31 October.
From 2024, the three main awards will become five, with the Pair of the Year award split into three different awards for each of the doubles category.
Under the new system, winners will also be decided based on a mixture of world ranking points from 1 December the previous season to 30 November and a voting panel of experts after each major event – the Super 750 and Super 100 World Tour stops, the Olympic Games (or World Championships), and the World Tour Finals.
New Players' Player of the Year awards will also be introduced in 2024.
BWF Award Winners in 2023
- BWF Male Player of the Year: Seo Seung-jae (Republic of Korea)
- BWF Female Player of the Year: An Se-young (Republic of Korea)
- BWF Pair of the Year: Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan (People's Republic of China, women's doubles)
- BWF Most Improved Player of the Year: Jiang Zhenbang / Wei Yaxin (People's Republic of China, mixed doubles)
- BWF Eddy Choong Most Promising Player: Liu Shengshu / Tan Ning (People's Republic of China, women's doubles)