[신화통신=연합뉴스]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Myeong-eon = The Korean women’s national team, spearheaded by badminton’s ‘world’s best’ Se-young Ahn (Samsung Life Insurance), advanced to the semifinals of the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships and won a ticket to the World Championship finals.
The women’s badminton team defeated Malaysia 3-0 in the women’s quarterfinals of the tournament held at the Conson Gymnasium in Qingdao, China on the 6th.
Korea, which advanced to the quarterfinals by winning first place in the group by successively defeating Singapore (5-0 wins) and Chinese Taipei (4-1 wins) in the group stage, advanced to the semifinals of the tournament with this victory and secured the right to participate in the World Women’s Team Championship (Uber Cup) to be held in Denmark in April.
This competition, held every two years, is the most prestigious team event in Asia and also serves as an Asian qualifier for the World Team Championships. Teams that advance to the semifinals or higher will be given the right to advance to the finals.
On this day, Korea’s first runner, Ahn Se-young, world number one in women’s singles, took the lead by beating Retsuhana Karupateban (37th) 2-0 (21-11 21-11) in 36 minutes.
Then, the women’s doubles world’s third-ranked team, Baek Ha-na (Incheon International Airport) and Kim Hye-jung (Samsung Life Insurance), defeated the Ong Shin-i and Kamon Ting (25th-ranked) pair 2-0 (21-13 21-9), and in the singles, Park Ga-eun (Gimcheon City Hall, 70th place) defeated Wong Ling-qing (41st place) 2-0 (21-16 21-12). The victory came to an end.
In the best-of-five format, which consisted of three singles matches and two doubles matches, Korea swept three games, and the remaining two games were not played according to regulations, and the game ended with Korea’s complete victory.
The Korean women’s national team will compete with Indonesia in the semifinals to advance to the finals.
Meanwhile, the men’s national team also advanced to the semifinals after defeating India 3-1.
Korea gained momentum in the men’s singles when Yoo Tae-bin (Gimcheon City Hall, 74th place) won a close match against Ayush Shetty (25th place), winning 2-1 (18-21 21-14 26-24). Next, the doubles team of Cho Song-hyun (Gwangju Bank) and Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life Insurance) won the game by defeating the Hariharan Amsakarunan and Chirag Shetty team 2-0 (21-11 21-13).
Choi Ji-hoon (Samsung Life Insurance, 109th) faltered as he lost 0-2 (15-21 16-21) to Indian veteran Kidambi Srikanth, but Jin Yong (Yonex) and Ki Dong-ju (Incheon International Airport) ended the match by defeating Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Pratik 2-0 (21-11 21-16). I took a picture.
The men’s national team will face China in the semifinals.
The Korean women’s national team’s best performance in this competition was runner-up in 2020 and 2022, and the men’s national team has won bronze medals a total of four times, including the 2024 competition.
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Sent on February 6, 2026 at 22:51
