(Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan, Xports News) Korea’s women’s badminton gave Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance, world No. 1) a break and advanced to the finals of the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships.
Korea will face China in the finals of the tournament. Once the matchup was confirmed, Chinese fans already predicted that Korea would win. It looks like his mentality collapsed early on.
The Korean women’s badminton team defeated Indonesia 3-1 in the women’s team semifinals of the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships held at the Kon Son Gymnasium in Qingdao, China on the 7th (Korean time).
On this day, Korea boldly decided to give ace Ahn Se-young a rest.
Se-young Ahn did not play in the last women’s team match against Singapore, the first group stage match. Afterwards, he made the most of it and played for two consecutive days against Malaysia, winning 2-0, helping Korea advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
Although it is an important path to the finals, the Korean national team prioritized Ahn Se-young’s physical strength and condition recovery and gave her a break, and achieved the best result by advancing to the finals without Ahn Se-young.
Korea put forward Kim Ga-eun (Samsung Life Insurance, world ranking 17th) in the first singles semifinal of the women’s team event. Kim Ga-eun showed an overwhelming performance throughout the match against Talitha Ramadani Wiriyawan (World No. 67), easily suppressing her with a game score of 2-0 (21-4 21-5).
The atmosphere raised by Kim Ga-eun’s victory continued in the first doubles. Baek Hana (Incheon International Airport) and Kim Hye-jeong (Samsung Life Insurance) also continued the trend by defeating the Rachel Alessia Rose and Feby Setianingrum group (world ranking 36th) 2-0 (21-14 21-10).
In the second singles, Park Ga-eun (Gimcheon City Hall, world ranking 70th) lost 0-2 (14-21, 13-21) to Ni Kadek Dinda Amartya Pratiwi (world ranking 77th), giving Indonesia its first win.
Although Korea’s winning streak was halted, Korea’s Seo-jin Lee (Incheon International Airport) and Yeon-woo Lee (Samsung Life Insurance) pair defeated the Amalia Chahaya Pratiwi and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadapanti pair 2-0 (21-19 21-19) in the 2nd doubles match, securing a ticket to the finals.
Korea, which gave Ahn Se-young a break and succeeded in advancing to the finals, will face China for the championship at the same venue on the morning of the 8th.
Meanwhile, as Korea and China faced each other for the championship title, some Chinese fans attracted attention by predicting that Korea would win even before the final match.
First of all, there is virtually no player in the Chinese women’s national team who can defeat Ahn Se-young. Chinese women’s singles powerhouses, including Ahn Se-young’s rival Chen Yufei (World No. 3), Wang Zhiyi (World No. 2), and Han Yue (World No. 5), all did not participate in this tournament.
According to China’s ‘Sina Sports’, when the final match between Korea and China was concluded, one fan was confident that Korea would win, saying in a comment, “I sincerely congratulate the Chinese women’s team on winning the silver medal.”
Another fan lowered China’s chances of winning, saying, “Can they win the finals without Chen Yufei?”
If the women’s national team defeats China and reaches the top of the Asian Team Badminton Championships, Korean badminton history will be rewritten.
Neither the Korean men’s or women’s national teams have yet reached the top of this competition. The Korean men’s team only won four bronze medals (2016, 2018, 2022, 2024) at the Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships. The women’s team advanced to the finals twice (2020, 2022), but both finished as runners-up.
The Korean women’s national team is expecting its first win thanks to Ahn Se-young’s performance.
Ahn Se-young also set her sights on winning her first competition. Ahn Se-young participated in the competition for the first time at the age of 16 in 2018 and took third place, and took second place in the 2020 competition. He did not participate in the 2022 and 2024 competitions.
Ahn Se-young, who celebrated her birthday during this tournament, expressed her wish in an interview after the quarterfinals against Malaysia, saying about her goal for this tournament, saying, “Of course it is the championship title. I think my best gift would be to help the team and achieve good results.”
Photo = Yonhap News
Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan kkddhh95@xportsnews.com
