Women’s badminton is entering a fascinating era. While world champions like Tai Tzu-ying, Chen Yufei and Carolina Marin are household names, a new brand of players is emerging, and they are eager to make their mark. Some have already broken into the top tier, while others are climbing steadily with every tournament. What they all share is talent, resilience, and the promise of reshaping the sport over the next decade.
Here are five rising names in women’s singles who deserve attention.
1. An Se-young (Republic of Korea, World No. 1)
At 23, An Se-young has already done what most players spend their entire careers chasing. The reigning Olympic champion and current World No. 1, she is South Korea’s first women’s singles player to hold the top spot since Bang Soo-hyun in the mid-1990s.
A game built on consistency and an attacking approach, she has been a dominant force on tour since 2023, winning Super 1000 events and peaking with her Paris 2024 Olympic gold.
However, her journey is only getting started. At 23, she is still refining her tactical play and physical base. If her early career is anything to go by, the next five years could establish her as one of the sport’s all-time greats.
2. Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan, World No. 8)
Japan has produced world-class players before, like Akane Yamaguchi and Nozomi Okuhara, but Tomoka Miyazaki is a different kind of prodigy. Just 19 years old, she is already ranked No. 8 in the world and is notably the only teenager inside the women’s singles top 10.
Miyazaki first made waves by winning the World Junior Championships in 2022. Since then, she has reached seven semifinals and a final in 2024, defeating seasoned names such as Yamaguchi and Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon along the way.
While she is often compared to Korea’s An Se-young, Miyazaki’s rise feels like the beginning of a long rivalry that could define the next decade.
3. Unnati Hooda (India, World No. 30)
India has a strong tradition in women’s badminton, from Saina Nehwal to P.V. Sindhu. Unnati Hooda, just 17, looks set to carry that legacy forward. She burst into the limelight in 2022 by winning the Odisha Open (Super 100) at the age of 14, becoming the youngest Indian to win a BWF Super 100 event.
Hooda recently defeated her idol Sindhu in the pre-quarterfinals at the China Open 2025 and marked her arrival. For a teenager balancing international travel with education, recently scoring 93% in her 12th Board examinations, her maturity is remarkable.
4. Tanvi Sharma (India, World No. 46)
Another Indian teenager to watch is Tanvi Sharma, just 16 years old and already inside the top 50. A former junior world No. 1, Sharma announced herself at the senior level earlier this year when she stormed into the U.S. Open 2025 (Super 300) final, the first Indian women’s singles player in nearly two decades to do so.
Though she fell to Beiwen Zhang in a tight three-game final, the run showcased her stamina and court intelligence. Ranked World No. 46, she represents the next chapter in India’s conveyor belt of badminton talent.
5. Polina Buhrova (Ukraine, World No. 41)
European badminton has often been dominated by Denmark and Spain, but Polina Buhrova is changing that narrative for Ukraine. At 21, she is ranked World No. 41 and continues to climb.
This summer, she reached the U.S. Open 2025 semifinals, taking out higher-ranked opponents, including Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun, before falling to Tanvi Sharma.
For Ukraine, which lacks the same badminton infrastructure as Asia’s giants, Buhrova’s rise is significant. She is showing that European players outside the traditional powerhouses can break through at the top level.
Bigger Picture
What’s striking about this group is not just their youth but their readiness. An Se-young is already the best player in the world at 23; Miyazaki has cracked the top 10 at 19; Hooda and Sharma are teenagers delivering results; Buhrova is building a path for Ukraine on the world stage.
Taken together, they highlight how the sport is getting younger, more global, and more competitive. The next decade promises rivalries that span continents, from Asia’s established powers to Europe’s emerging challengers. For fans, this just means that badminton is only set to get more fun, competitive and exciting.
Yash Desai is a renowned journalist with over 10+ years of experience covering sports around the world. He began his career as a News Reporter in Delhi, India, and got an opportunity to cover several World events, including the Olympics, Paralympics, and World Games. He often felt that women’s sports are sidelined and given step-motherly treatment by the mainstream media. To bridge this gap and to build an equal playing field, Yash co-founded FemaleInSports and is currently working as a Lead Editor here.
