The Korean women’s national team, spearheaded by badminton ‘world’s best’ Se-young Ahn (24, Samsung Life Insurance), won the 2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships and achieved its first ever win.
The women’s badminton team defeated China 3-0 in the women’s final of the tournament held at the Conson Gymnasium in Qingdao, China on February 8.
Korea, which had previously dispatched second-tier players for reasons such as schedule and conditioning, used a ‘complete’ lineup for this tournament, featuring all of the world’s top ranked players, including Ahn Se-young.
Korea, which showed a strong will to win, enjoyed the joy of reaching the top of the Asian team event for the first time in 10 years since the competition was founded in 2016.
Korea, led by Ahn Se-young, the world’s No. 1 women’s singles player, defeated Singapore (5-0) and Chinese Taipei (4-1) in the group stage to enter the tournament in first place.
Korea put Malaysia to rest 3-0 in the quarterfinals, and continued its unstoppable momentum by defeating Indonesia 3-1 in the semifinals when Ahn Se-young was rested.
In the finals of the competition, Ahn Se-young took the lead as the first runner and defeated Han Chen-xi (38th) 2-0 (21-7 21-14) in 39 minutes.
Next, the women’s doubles team of Baek Ha-na (Incheon International Airport) and Kim Hye-jung (Samsung Life Insurance) defeated the Ji Aifan-Zhang Shu-hsian pair 2-0 (24-22 21-8), and Kim Ga-eun (Samsung Life Insurance, world ranking 17th) defeated Xu Wenjing (127th place) 2-1 (19-21 21-10 21-17) to make it 5 matches. The championship was completed according to the best-of-three format.
This competition, held every two years, is the most prestigious team event in Asia and also serves as the Asian qualifier for the World Team Championships.
The Korean women’s national team, which reached the semifinals or higher in this tournament, secured the right to participate in the finals of the World Women’s Team Championship (Uber Cup) to be held in Denmark in April.
Meanwhile, the men’s national team, whose ‘ace’ Seo Seung-jae (Samsung Life Insurance) was out of action due to a shoulder injury, suffered a painful 2-3 defeat to China in the semifinals the day before and ended the tournament in tied 3rd place.
Although they failed to advance to the finals, the men’s national team also advanced to the semifinals and qualified for the finals of the World Men’s Team Championship (Thomas Cup).
[이근승 MK스포츠 기자]
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