NAGOYA, Japan — China are Asian Games women’s team badminton champions once again.

The Chinese women swept Japan 3-0 in the final at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Thursday, reclaiming the gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games and ending a drought that stretched back to Incheon 2014. Wang Zhiyi, Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning, and Chen Yufei all won, though the scoreline hides how close this tie came to going the other way.

Wang Zhiyi survives Yamaguchi scare

Wang Zhiyi opened against Akane Yamaguchi and was buried early, falling behind 3-12 before dropping the first game 14-21. She dug herself out point by point, edging the second game 21-19, then saved four match points in the decider to close it out 21-17.

“Winning a match that tough was an incredible experience for me, and it’s built up my confidence,” Wang said after the match. “I was nervous at the start, but I adjusted and found my rhythm point by point.”

It was the kind of win that lifts an entire bench — beating Japan’s world No. 1 in the opening rubber.

Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning hold their nerve

The doubles rubber was the tie’s knife edge. Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning took the first game 21-16 against Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, but the second turned into a war of attrition — deadlocked from 18-18 through 23-23, with the Chinese pair missing several match points on net errors and a failed challenge before finally converting on their next two chances, 25-23.

“When we hit adversity or ran into problems in that match, we dared to solve them, and that’s an experience we’ll treasure,” Tan Ning said. “We believed we could win, and we wanted this team gold badly.”

Asked how the pair lifts each other under pressure, Tan added: “We don’t need to say or do anything special — we know each other too well for that.”

At 2-0, the final was China’s to lose.

Chen Yufei finishes the job in 43 minutes

Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei made sure the tie went no further. Up against Tomoka Miyazaki, she was ruthless from the first rally, closing out a 21-10, 21-11 win that sent her teammates sprinting onto the court to celebrate.

Japan’s semifinal heroics in vain

Japan had reached the final by knocking out defending champions South Korea 3-1 on Wednesday. The tie opened with An Se-young beating Yamaguchi 21-9, 18-21, 21-11 — but it proved to be Korea’s only point. Fukushima and Matsumoto levelled with a 21-15, 21-19 win over Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee, Miyazaki beat Sim Yu Jin 21-15, 21-14, and Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi sealed it 22-20, 21-16 over Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong.

A day later, the same fight was not enough against China.

Final score: China 3-0 Japan

  • Women’s singles 1: Wang Zhiyi (China) def. Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) 14-21, 21-19, 21-17
  • Women’s doubles: Liu Shengshu / Tan Ning (China) def. Yuki Fukushima / Mayu Matsumoto (Japan) 21-16, 25-23
  • Women’s singles 2: Chen Yufei (China) def. Tomoka Miyazaki (Japan) 21-10, 21-11

Twelve years is a long time between titles for a team that has now won this badminton event eleven times. On Thursday morning in Ichinomiya, China played like they were tired of waiting — and with the individual events still to come, the badminton news out of Aichi-Nagoya is only getting started.