The Korean women's badminton team was defeated by host nation Japan 1-3 in the semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on September 23 at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium.
However, there is no separate bronze medal match in badminton team events, so Korea secured a bronze medal by reaching the semifinals.
World No. 1 An Se-young was the only player to win her match, defeating world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 (21-9, 18-21, 21-11) to give Korea a strong start.
In the first game, An scored eight consecutive points after leading 4-3, winning by a margin of nine points. After losing the second game, she rallied in the third game, scoring six points in a row from a 4-4 tie to win by ten points. This victory extended An's winning streak against Yamaguchi to eight matches.
However, following An's victory, Korea lost the next three matches, resulting in their elimination.
Korea, the defending champion from the 2022 Hangzhou Games, aimed for a second consecutive title but was halted in the semifinals. The final will feature the winner of the match between Japan and the victor of the Indonesia-China match.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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