South Korea win maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships women’s crown
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
South Korea's An Se-young celebrates after winning the India Open women's singles final in New Delhi on Jan 18, 2026. On Feb 8, she led her nation to their maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships women’s title, after they beat China 3-0.
PHOTO: REUTERS
QINGDAO – South Korea won the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) women’s title for the first time in their history in Qingdao on Feb 8, giving world No. 1 An Se-young one of the few titles she has yet to win.
They had previously lost in the final twice, in 2020 and 2022, with An in the team who lost to Indonesia in the latter.
However, the South Koreans won the more prestigious Uber Cup later in 2022, only their second title in the competition.
They will hope the BATC win, where they whitewashed China 3-0 in the final at Qingdao Conson Gymnasium, will augur well for a tilt at a third Uber Cup title in Horsens in Denmark in April and May.
China are defending champions and record 16-time Uber Cup winners and will likely have their big guns back for the premier women’s team competition.
In Qingdao, the hosts did not field their top three singles players Wang Zhiyi, Chen Yufei and Han Yue – who all sit in the top five of the world rankings – as well as world No. 1 women’s doubles pair Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning.
Nevertheless, An continued her perfect start to 2026, dismantling world No. 38 Han Qianxi 21-7, 21-14 in 39 minutes.
The 24-year-old won her opening two Badminton World Federation World Tour tournaments of the year at the Malaysia and India Opens and has been taken to three games only once, in her opening match of 2026 against Canada’s Michelle Li in Kuala Lumpur.
Next up for the South Koreans was the scratch pair of Baek Ha-na and Kim Hye-jeong, who beat world No. 4 Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian 24-22, 21-8.
Baek is one half of the world No. 3 pairing with Lee So-hee, while Kim makes up the fifth-ranked duo with Kong Hee-yong.
The second singles saw 17th-ranked Kim Ga-eun digging deep before wrapping up the tie with a 19-21, 21-10, 21-17 win over world No. 127 Xu Wenjing.
There was yet more disappointment for the hosts in the men’s final, where they suffered another 3-0 whitewash, this time by Japan.
World No. 19 Yushi Tanaka began proceedings with a 21-10, 21-18 win over 59th-ranked Hu Zhe’an.
Kakeru Kumagai and Hiroki Nishi made it 2-0 after the 31st-ranked duo beat He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu 21-17, 14-21, 21-15.
World No. 23 Koki Watanabe then sealed the tie, but only after a closely fought battle against 69th-ranked Zhu Xuanchen, which ended 22-24, 21-17, 21-18.
It was also Japan’s first men’s title at the tournament, with their previous best performance being a silver at the inaugural edition in 2016.
Like their women’s team, China’s men were also missing big hitters such as world No. 1 Shi Yuqi and fifth-ranked Li Shifeng, as well as world No. 3 men’s doubles pair Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. Japan, too, omitted world No. 9 Kodai Naraoka.
