Advance to the finals for the second time in a row... If the 'World No. 1' Chinese group is surpassed, Korea will win gold for the first time in 24 years in women's doubles.

Advance to the finals for the second time in a row... If the 'World No. 1' Chinese group is surpassed, Korea will win gold for the first time in 24 years in women's doubles.

(Ichinomiya [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Oh Myeong-eon = The 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games silver medalist and world No. 2 badminton women's doubles pair, Lee So-hee and Baek Hana (Incheon International Airport), reached the finals of the Asian Games for two consecutive competitions.

Lee So-hee and Baek Hana defeated Japan's world No. 7 Kie Nakanishi and Rin Uesaka 2-0 (21-13 21-12) in the badminton women's doubles semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 28th.

As a result, Lee So-hee and Baek Hana, silver medalists at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, will advance to the Asian Games finals for two consecutive competitions.

The Japanese group they faced on this day was the group that thwarted the Korean national team's progress to the finals in the women's team semifinals of this tournament held just five days ago.

They played as doubles runners in Japan's fourth match at the time, defeating the pair of Kim Hye-jung and Jeong Na-eun and inflicting a painful 1-3 loss to Korea.

Lee So-hee and Baek Hana, who were considered the Korean national team's 'must-win cards' but bowed their heads after losing in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the team competition, seemed to have prepared themselves on the court that day and easily took the lead from the beginning.

The Korean group, which was playing a tight see-saw game with a 1-2 point gap in the beginning, began to run away at 7-7, scoring 5 consecutive points thanks to Japan's error and Lee So-hee's sharp smash with a high RBI.

The Korean group won the first game by 8 points with leisurely play, and continued their momentum in the second game.

They widened the distance by scoring three consecutive points at 5-4, and neutralized Japan's attack, which barely caught up with the score at 7-8, with a tight defense. They swept 8 points in a row, breaking the opponent's will to chase, and leveling the game.

Their opponent in the finals is China's world number one pair, Ryu Seong-su and Tanning.

The Korean team struggled, losing five straight games to the Chinese team, but recently defeated the Ryu Seong-su and Tanning pair at the World Championships, the most important stage, and achieved the first Korean women's doubles title in 31 years.

If Lee So-hee and Baek Hana overcome China and climb to the top of the podium, Korean badminton will win the Asian Games women's doubles gold medal for the first time in 24 years since the pair of Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won at the 2002 Busan Games.