Ahn Se-young led the women’s team to the semifinals of the Asian Team Badminton Championships. ⓒ AFP = News 1
(Seoul = News 1) Reporter Lee Sang-cheol = The Korean women’s badminton team, led by ‘Shuttlecock Empress’ Ahn Se-young, advanced to the semifinals of the ‘2026 Asian Men’s and Women’s Team Badminton Championships’ and earned the right to advance to the finals of the World Team Championships (Uber Cup).
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.
In the group stage, Korea defeated Singapore (5-0) and Chinese Taipei (4-1) and entered the tournament as first place in the group, and also easily defeated Malaysia.
This competition, held every two years, is a national competition with a best-of-five series in the order of ‘singles-doubles-singles-doubles-singles’, and also serves as an Asian qualifier for the World Team Championships.
Korea, which reached the semifinals, secured the right to advance to the 2026 World Team Championships, which is given to the top four teams in the women’s division of this tournament.
The 2026 World Team Championships will be held in Horsens, Denmark from April 24 to May 3.
On this day, Korea was led by Ahn Se-young, the world’s No. 1 women’s singles player.
Ahn Se-young took the lead against Retsuhana Karupateban with an easy 2-0 (21-11 21-11) victory in 36 minutes.
Then, in the first doubles match, the team of Baek Ha-na and Kim Hye-jeong defeated the team of Ong Shin-i and Kamon Ting 2-0 (21-13 21-9).
With the trend completely shifting to Korea, Park Ga-eun appeared in the second singles match. Park Ga-eun defeated Wong Ling-qing 2-0 (21-16 21-12) and confirmed her advancement to the semifinals.
Korea’s opponent in the semifinals is Indonesia, which came from behind to win 3-2 against Thailand in the quarterfinals.
Korea’s best result in the women’s division of this competition was runner-up in 2020 and 2022. In the 2022 finals, they faced Indonesia and lost 1-3, bowing their heads. For the first time in four years, I got a chance to avenge my painful defeat.
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