NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's women's and men's badminton teams advanced to the finals at the 2026 Asian Games on Wednesday, keeping alive their hopes of a gold-medal sweep.
China's women cruised past Indonesia 3-0 in the semifinals and will face host Japan on Thursday as they seek to reclaim a title they failed to win at the previous two Asian Games.
The men's team defeated India 3-1 to reach its sixth consecutive Asian Games final, setting up a showdown with Indonesia.
Wang Zhiyi gave China's women a winning start with a 21-15, 22-20 victory over Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani.
"My opponent created huge troubles for me in the second game, but I fought for every single point and never gave up," Wang said.
Despite her victory, the 26-year-old stressed the importance of maintaining focus in team competition.
"In team events, you must not celebrate while leading. We celebrate only after our teammate wins the final point," she told Xinhua.
Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning extended China's lead with a 21-15, 21-18 doubles victory over Rachel Allessya Rose and Febi Setianingrum before Chen Yufei sealed the tie, beating Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari 21-15, 21-12.
China is seeking its first women's team gold since 2010, having missed out on the title at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2023.
"Our team has won almost every title except the Asian Games team gold. This is an honor we all want very much," Chen said.
"We have great team cohesion. At this edition, I want to prioritize the team competition before turning my attention to individual events," she added.
Japan, meanwhile, recovered from losing its opening match to defeat defending champion South Korea 3-1 in the other semifinal.
World No. 1 An Se-young put South Korea ahead with victory over Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, but the hosts responded with three consecutive wins, including two doubles victories and a singles triumph by Tomoka Miyazaki.
In the men's competition, Shi Yuqi put China ahead with a 21-16, 21-18 victory over India's Lakshya Sen before Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated newly crowned world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang to level the tie.
Li Shifeng restored China's advantage with a 21-19, 21-13 win over Ayush Shetty before He Jiting and Liu Yi secured the decisive point, beating Hariharan Amsakarunan and Arjun Madathil 21-16, 17-21, 21-9.
Li said he had been determined to respond after losing to South Korea's Jeon Hyeok-jin in Tuesday's quarterfinal, which China narrowly won 3-2.
"I knew audiences might not have high expectations for me in this match, but I wanted to prove myself," Li said.
"Sometimes it is hard to motivate yourself. My father told me not to give up, and I made it today."
China will face Indonesia in Thursday's final after the latter defeated Thailand 3-1 in its semifinal.
The badminton team competitions conclude Thursday, with individual titles to be decided from Sept. 25 to 29. ■
