S. Korea loses to Japan, settles for bronze in women's badminton team title defense
NAGOYA, Japan — South Korea lost to Japan in the semifinals of the women's badminton team event at the Asian Games on Wednesday, settling for bronze in its gold medal defense. After losing the opening match, Japan won the next matches in a row to knock off South Korea 3-1 at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Ichinomiya, just northwest of the main host city, Nagoya, Japan. With no third-place…
In Nagoya, Japan, South Korea experienced a disappointing finish to their women's badminton team title defense at the Asian Games on Wednesday. After being defeated by Japan in the semifinals, the South Korean squad settled for the bronze medal. The match unfolded at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Ichinomiya, located northwest of Nagoya, the main host city.
Japan dominated the match, winning three consecutive games to secure the victory with a score of 3-1. The South Korean team faced elimination in the third-place match, as both South Korea and Indonesia, the other semifinal loser, received bronze medals without playing that match.
South Korea's only win against Japan occurred in the opening singles, where world No. 1 An Se-young defeated her long-time rival Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 (21-9, 18-21, 21-11). However, Baek Hana and Lee So-hee, who were world No. 2 in women's doubles, suffered a 2-0 loss (21-15, 21-19) against Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. Baek and Lee had previously lost their quarterfinal match against Malaysia.
Sim Yu-jin and Jeong Na-eun also fell short, losing their respective singles matches to Tomoka Miyazaki (21-15, 21-14) and Rin Uesaka and Kie Nakanishi (22-20, 21-16). These losses marked the end of the women's badminton team event for South Korea.
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