The South Korean women's national badminton team's bid for consecutive Asian Games team titles, spearheaded by world number one An Se-young, has fallen short.

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

Having swept the Asian Team Championships and Uber Cup earlier this year and aiming for a second straight gold following the previous Hangzhou Games, South Korea missed out on a spot in the final with this defeat, concluding their tournament with a bronze medal.

South Korea's sole victory on the day came from women's singles powerhouse and opening player An Se-young.

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

With this victory, An maintained her perfect record in her last eight encounters against Yamaguchi, reasserting her status as an unrivaled frontrunner.

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

Breaking away from a 4-3 tie by winning eight consecutive points, she crushed Yamaguchi's momentum and easily closed out the first game with a 12-point margin, conceding just 9 points.

In the second game, An lost control as Yamaguchi launched a fierce counterattack.

An doggedly pursued with steady defense to retrieve opponent shots, but a few crucial unforced errors at critical moments forced the match into a deciding third game.

In the final game, An's enduring stamina overwhelmed Yamaguchi.

Seizing control with six unanswered points from a 4-4 tie, An leveraged her physical advantage to pull 10 points ahead of Yamaguchi and bring the lengthy match to an end.

While ace An Se-young gave South Korea a flawless start by subduing Japan, the second pair, women's doubles world number twos Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na, suffered a surprise 0-2 (15-21, 19-21) defeat to world number threes Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, shaking the team's momentum.

The South Korean duo failed to take the lead again after a 2-1 start early in the first game, and although they caught up to 19-19 in the second, they collapsed after conceding the final two consecutive points.

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

Stepping in with ankle pain to replace Kim Ga-eun, who was sidelined from the entry due to a thigh injury, Sim bowed her head after allowing consecutive points in the latter half despite holding the initiative early on.

Next, in the fourth doubles, Kim Hye-jung and Jeong Na-eun narrowly lost 0-2 (20-22, 16-21) to Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi (ranked 7th) despite a tenacious chase, bringing the match to a close.

Kim Hye-jung had put up a hard-fought battle after hastily re-pairing with former partner Jeong Na-eun ahead of this tournament following the knee injury dropout of her previous partner, Kong Hee-yong, but was left to swallow her disappointment.

With South Korea failing to advance to the final, the women's team gold medal match will be contested between China and Japan.

Meanwhile, the men's national team was narrowly tripped up 2-3 by China in the team quarterfinals held the previous day, ending their journey.

(Photo: Yonhap News)