South Korea's bid for consecutive titles in the women's team event at the Asian Games, spearheaded by world-dominant An Se-young, has fallen short.

South Korea lost 1-3 to Japan in the semifinals of the women's badminton team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today (the 23rd).

Having swept the Asian Team Championships and World Team Championships this year, South Korea aimed for its second straight gold following the previous Hangzhou Games. However, today's defeat dashed hopes of reaching the final, ending the team's tournament campaign with a bronze medal.

South Korea's sole victory today came from women's singles undisputed powerhouse An Se-young, who played as the first runner.

An defeated world number three Akane Yamaguchi 2-1 (21-9, 18-21, 21-11).

With this victory, An maintained a flawless record in her last eight head-to-head encounters with Yamaguchi, reaffirming her status as an unrivaled top player.

From the opening game, An relentlessly pressured Yamaguchi with sharp attacks probing every corner of the court.

Breaking away from a 4-3 lead by scoring eight unanswered points, she crushed Yamaguchi's momentum and easily closed out the first game with a 12-point margin, conceding only 9 points.

In the second game, An lost the initiative under a fierce counterattack from a resurgent Yamaguchi.

An fought back tenaciously with solid defense, but a few crucial unforced errors at critical moments forced the match into a third game.

In the deciding game, An's late-game surge overwhelmed Yamaguchi.

Breaking a 4-4 tie with six consecutive points to seize control, An leveraged her physical superiority to distance Yamaguchi by 10 points and bring the lengthy battle to a close.

While ace An Se-young secured a perfect start and claimed the early momentum against Japan, South Korea stumbled when the second pair, women's doubles world number twos Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na, suffered a shock 0-2 (15-21, 19-21) defeat to world number threes Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.

The South Korean pair failed to reclaim the lead after a 2-1 start early in the first game, and although they caught up to 19-19 in the second game, they collapsed by giving up the final two consecutive points.

Sim Yu-jin (ranked 16th), stepping up as the third singles player, also lost 0-2 (15-21, 14-21) to Tomoka Miyazaki (ranked 7th), pushing South Korea to the brink.

Stepping in due to Kim Ga-eun being sidelined from the entry with a thigh injury, Sim played through ankle pain and bowed her head after allowing consecutive points in the latter half despite holding the initial initiative.

In the fourth match, the women's doubles pair of Kim Hye-jeong and Jeong Na-eun narrowly lost 0-2 (20-22, 16-21) to Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi (ranked 7th) despite a resilient chase, bringing the match to an end.

Kim Hye-jeong had hastily paired up again with Jeong Na-eun—with whom she previously teamed up—ahead of this tournament following the knee injury of her regular partner Kong Hee-yong, and fought valiantly only to swallow her disappointment.