There was no second heartbreak. Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee, the world's second-ranked women's doubles badminton pair, who wept after losing the final to a Chinese duo at the Hangzhou Games three years ago, turned their second Asian Games final into a triumph with near-flawless teamwork.
The pair, both of Incheon International Airport, defeated world No. 1 Liu Sheng-shu and Tan Ning of China 2-1 (26-28, 21-18, 21-18) in the women's doubles final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Ichinomiya Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 29th. It was South Korea's first Asian Games gold in women's doubles since Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won won the title at the 2002 Busan Games, a gap of 24 years.
Silver medalists at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, the two reached the final at consecutive Asian Games before finally claiming the gold that had eluded them. The pair, who once held the world No. 1 ranking for 12 weeks, entered the Hangzhou Games with high expectations but had to settle for silver after running into the Chinese wall.
This time was different. Baek and Lee had not forgotten that disappointment, and their determination to finally break through against China was evident throughout. They dropped the opening game 26-28 after a series of deuces but never gave up. Encouraging each other, they took the second game 21-18. They absorbed their opponents' fierce attacks with a wall of returns, then piled up points with winners that found the open spaces.
The third game was the highlight. From 12-12 they conceded three straight points on poor choices, but showed their resilience by turning the game around to lead 17-16. At 18-18, Liu Sheng-shu went down with a leg cramp. She fought on despite the fall, but South Korea reached 21 points first to seal the title.
Baek and Lee, who had once lost five straight matches to Liu and Tan, were all smiles after following up their victory at the recent world championships — where they claimed South Korea's first women's doubles title in 31 years — with this Asian Games win. After the match, Baek celebrated by carrying Lee on her back in a piggyback ceremony. Lee Kyung-won, now a national team coach and one of the gold medalists at the 2002 Busan Games, embraced the players who had followed in her footsteps to win women's doubles gold.
"I can't believe we won the gold medal," Lee So-hee said after the match. "I feel like we played a 120-point match today." Baek gave credit to her partner, saying, "It was such a tough match today, but we could win because my older teammate kept up her power in her shots to the very end and covered so much ground."
