Ichinomiya:South Korea was defeated by Japan in the semifinals of the women's badminton team event at the Asian Games, resulting in South Korea settling for a bronze medal in its attempt to defend its gold medal title.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Japan secured a 3-1 victory over South Korea at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, northwest of Nagoya, Japan. This victory came after South Korea won the opening singles match, but Japan came back to win the following matches consecutively.

In the opening singles, South Korea's world No. 1 An Se-young triumphed over her rival, Akane Yamaguchi, with scores of 21-9, 18-21, 21-11. However, the success was short-lived as Baek Hana and Lee So-hee, ranked world No. 2 in women's doubles, were defeated by Japan's Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, 21-15, 21-19. Baek and Lee had previously lost to Malaysia in the quarterfinals.

Sim Yu-jin then lost her singles match against Tomoka Miyazaki, with scores of 21-15, 21-14. The final match saw Jeong Na-eun and Kim Hye-jeong fall to Rin Uesaka and Kie Nakanishi, concluding the series with scores of 22-20, 21-16.

With no third-place match, both South Korea and Indonesia, the other semifinal loser, received bronze medals. The individual badminton competition will commence on Friday, featuring men's and women's singles and doubles, as well as mixed doubles. An Se-young aims to become the first women's singles player to win consecutive gold medals at the Asian Games.