Asian Games 2023: Republic of Korea win stunning women's team badminton gold, beating hosts People's Republic of China 3–0
A boisterous home crowd was not enough to propel China to victory as Republic of Korea won three straight rubbers to take gold.
Badminton
Republic of Korea were crowned women's team badminton champions at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou after securing a stunning 3–0 whitewash against the hosts People's Republic of China on Sunday (1 October).
The tie was played in front of a very partisan crowd that would not take defeat for an answer on the Chinese national day. However, they were to be disappointed. First, world number one An Se-young dominated against Olympic champion and world number three Chen Yufei, with Chen making multiple errors and running out of ideas against her opponent.
Time and time again Chen found the net or sent easy winners wide, while An displayed more grit in stretching and diving to save what would have been lost causes. While the two women shared many long rallies, the 21–12 21–13 score of the opening match was a fair reflection of An's domination and Chen's struggles.
Chen later admitted: "I struggled a lot during the match, especially mentally. I can’t find an effective way to play today and I made a lot of mistakes. When my opponent put pressure on me I was lacking in confidence and determination. Despite trying to play with longer rallies and faster movement, I didn't do well after my physical energy wore out."
That result quietened the home crowd, at least temporarily. But the first doubles rubber did not go the hosts' way either. In a match-up between the world number one pair Chen Qingchen / Jia Yifan and the world number two Lee So-hee / Baek Ha-na, Chen and Jia looked lost and burned both their review challenges quickly in the first game.
As Chen and Jia faded in the second, the numerous South Korean fans in the crowd grew louder as the home support grew quieter, now aware China would have to win the last three rubbers consecutively to take gold. Although Chen and Jia saved two match points, Lee and Baek completed a 21–18 21–14 victory in an hour and 23 minutes.
By the time the third rubber began between Kim Ga-eun and He Bingjiao, the home crowd had deflated.
Left-hander He began strongly, attacking from the first point, but world number 18 Kim hung on against her opponent ranked 13 places higher than her, never letting He get more than two points ahead in the first game. While He's points were still met with claps from the crowd's balloon clappers, a slow acceptance appeared to have set in among the crowd.
However, He did well to level the first game at 15–15, revitalising the crowd, and again when she saved two game points to bring the score back to 20–20. However, Kim held strong and took the opening game, sending her teammates and the South Korean fans wild, while the rest of the Binjiang Gymnasium was, for perhaps the first time, truly silent.
He began the second game strongly too, but began to suffer as Kim applied pressure. Kim ran out to an 11–6 lead at the interval, belying her status as the world number 18. He visibly began to tire, taking longer on her serves as she tried to regain her composure and copping a verbal warning from the chair umpire, who told her not to delay the game.
Ultimately, Kim ran out a 22–20 21–17 winner, sealing a shock whitewash for the Republic of Korea side against the fancied hosts. As she smashed the winner, the South Korean team spilled onto court in celebration, while a tearful He was left wondering what could have been and to take the consolatory applause from the crowd.
The women's team gold was a first for the Republic of Korea since 1994, when a Bang Soo-hyun-inspired squad took the women's singles and team double – something An will hope to repeat in Hangzhou.