South Korea's badminton women's doubles team of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na defeated China to claim the gold medal at the Asian Games for the first time in 24 years.
The world-ranked No. 2 duo triumphed on September 29 at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi, Japan, overcoming the world No. 1 Chinese pair of Liu Shengsu and Tan Ning with a score of 2-1 (26-28, 21-18, 21-18).
The match was fiercely contested. In the first game, Baek and Lee trailed 17-18 but rallied to take a 20-18 lead, only to allow China to win the game.
In the second game, they were down 19-18 but scored two consecutive points to level the match. The final game was tightly contested at 18-18 when Liu suffered a leg cramp, causing a brief stoppage. However, Lee and Baek maintained their focus, scoring three straight points to finish the match 21-18.
This marks South Korea's first gold medal in women's doubles badminton at the Asian Games since the 2002 Busan Games, where the pair of Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won won gold.
Lee and Baek also overcame the disappointment of finishing with a silver medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, where they lost to the Chinese pair of Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan in the final.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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