South Korea's women's badminton team falls to Japan, settles for bronze

South Korea's women's badminton team failed to defend its Asian Games team title, falling to Japan in the semifinals.

Korea lost 1-3 to Japan on Wednesday at Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games women's team semifinal. Hoping to win back-to-back titles after claiming gold at the Hangzhou Games, Korea was eliminated and finished with a bronze medal.

World No. 1 An Se-young, who led off for Korea, delivered. She defeated world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 (21-9, 18-21, 21-11) to give Korea its only win of the day, extending her winning streak against Yamaguchi to eight straight matches.

Korea dropped the next three matches in a row, however. The women's doubles pair of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na, ranked second in the world, fell 0-2 (15-21, 19-21) to Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. Singles player Shim Yu-jin then lost 0-2 (15-21, 14-21) to Tomoka Miyazaki. Shim entered the match nursing ankle pain as a replacement for Kim Ga-eun, who had been dropped from the roster with a thigh injury.

With Korea's back against the wall, the doubles pair of Kim Hye-jeong and Jeong Na-eun also fell 0-2 (20-22, 16-21) to Rin Iwanaga and Ki Nakanishi, ending Korea's hopes of reaching the final. Kim Hye-jeong had hastily paired with Jeong Na-eun for the tournament after her regular partner Kong Hee-yong withdrew with a knee injury.

With Korea eliminated, the women's team final will be contested between China and Japan. The men's team was also knocked out earlier, losing 2-3 to China in the quarterfinals.