NAGOYA: South Korea’s An Se-young made history by becoming the first woman to successfully defend the Asian Games badminton singles title on Tuesday, while persistent rain and organisational problems continued to disrupt competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

The world and Olympic champion produced another dominant display to beat Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 21-17, 21-9 and add the continental crown to the title she won in Hangzhou three years ago.

An, 24, has not lost a match since March and did not drop a game throughout the tournament. She fell to her knees and roared after sealing victory, describing the achievement as “like a dream”.

“I’m going for all of these records,” An said, referring to Chinese great Lin Dan, whose achievements she is seeking to emulate.

Thailand also celebrated a landmark badminton success as Kunlavut Vitidsarn defeated Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew 21-12, 21-16 to become his country’s first Asian Games men’s singles champion.

China continued to dominate the overall competition, with its gold-medal tally reaching 143 by the end of the 10th day. Japan were second with 45 golds and South Korea third with 24.

Athletics, which concluded on Tuesday, provided several notable performances.

Philippines star Ernest John Obiena successfully defended his men’s pole vault title, clearing 5.91 metres for a Games record. Obiena was the only athlete to clear 5.75m and, after failing twice at 5.80m, raised the bar to 5.91m and cleared it on his third attempt.

China’s Zhang Jiale set a Games and Asian record in the women’s hammer throw with a 78.27m effort. Her compatriot Zhao Jie took silver with 74.83m, while Japan’s Joy Iris McArthur won bronze.

Zhang said her next target was to become the first Asian woman to throw beyond 80 metres.

China also won the mixed 4x100m relay, with Chen Jinfeng, Liu Guoyi, Shi Junhao and Chen Yujie clocking 40.78 seconds. Thailand took silver and India bronze.

Chen claimed her third gold of the Games after earlier victories in the women’s 100m and 4x100m relay, while also winning silver in the 200m.

Japan’s Ko Ochiai delighted the home crowd by winning the men’s 800m in a Games-record 1:44.48. Iran’s Ali Amirian took silver and Qatar’s Abubaker Abdalla bronze.

China’s Wu Hongjiao won the women’s 800m in 2:04.49, ahead of Bahrain’s Nelly Korir and the Philippines’ Victoria Bossong.

Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew claimed the men’s 5,000m title in 13:30.79, with Japan’s Tomonori Yamaguchi taking silver and India’s Gulveer Singh bronze.

India also won the women’s 4x400m relay, while Japan took gold in the men’s 4x400m relay.

China’s weightlifting dominance continued as twice Olympic champion Li Wenwen won the women’s +86kg title, her first Asian Games gold. Li, known affectionately as “Big Baby” in China, lifted 310kg in total, including Games records of 140kg in the snatch and 170kg in the clean and jerk.

Uzbekistan’s Akbar Djuraev, the Tokyo Olympic champion and Paris silver medallist, won the men’s 110kg title with a 423kg total.

There was considerable drama in the men’s super-heavyweight competition, where Iran’s Ali Davoudi edged Iraq’s Ali Ammar by just one kilogram. Ammar had set a world record of 219kg in the snatch but failed with his final clean and jerk attempt after appearing to become confused by the countdown.

Surfing made its Asian Games debut with Japan sweeping both gold medals at Long Beach.

Japanese-American Kanoa Igarashi defeated Filipino Toby Espejon in the men’s competition, producing a rare perfect 10 in his semi-final. The victory also secured Igarashi’s place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Eighteen-year-old Mirai Ikeda won the women’s title after defeating China’s Yang Siqi, also booking her place at the Los Angeles Games.

In women’s football, North Korea reached the final with a 2-0 victory over China in pouring rain. An own goal and a strike by Myong Yu Jong sent the three-time champions into their seventh final in the last eight editions.

North Korea will face Japan for gold after the hosts defeated South Korea 2-0, with China Kamiya scoring both goals.

The semi-finals were played before sparse crowds at the 50,000-capacity Shizuoka Stadium, highlighting continuing concerns over low spectator interest at some venues.

The weather remained one of the major talking points of the Games, with heavy rain disrupting events for a fourth successive day.

The organisers were also forced to apologise after transport errors resulted in teams being taken to the wrong venues. South Korea’s men’s volleyball team had their practice cancelled on Monday after their bus went to the wrong location, while other teams also reported delays and missing buses.

The organisers acknowledged an “error in matching teams to vehicles” and said they were working to address the problems.

Despite the operational difficulties, competition continued across the Aichi-Nagoya region, with the Games entering their final stretch and China maintaining a commanding position at the top of the medal table.

Medals table

(Tabulated under rank, country, gold, silver, bronze, total)
1 China 143 62 49 254
2 Japan 45 71 67 183
3 South Korea 24 27 44 95
4 Uzbekistan 14 17 13 44
5 Thailand 12 9 12 33
6 Bahrain 11 5 4 20
7 Iran 10 16 11 37
8 Kazakhstan 9 14 25 48
9 North Korea 7 5 6 18
10 India 6 21 25 52
11 Malaysia 6 5 9 20
12 Hong Kong 5 12 18 35
13 Kuwait 4 1 4 9
14 Chinese Taipei 3 10 24 37
15 Indonesia 3 7 20 30
16 Qatar 3 5 4 12
17 Philippines 3 3 12 18
18 Singapore 2 6 3 11
19 Tajikistan 2 3 2 7
20 Vietnam 2 1 17 20
21 Macao 1 4 1 6
22 Jordan 1 1 1 3
22 Myanmar 1 1 1 3
24 Sri Lanka 1 1 0 2
24 UAE 1 1 0 2
26 Saudi Arabia 0 2 5 7
27 Iraq 0 2 2 4
28 Turkmenistan 0 2 0 2
29 Kyrgyzstan 0 1 4 5
30 Afghanistan 0 1 2 3
31 Lebanon 0 1 1 2
31 Oman 0 1 1 2
33 Pakistan 0 0 5 5
34 Cambodia 0 0 4 4
35 Nepal 0 0 2 2
36 Bangladesh 0 0 1 1
36 Brunei Darussalam 0 0 1 1
36 Laos 0 0 1 1
36 Mongolia 0 0 1 1
36 Syria 0 0 1 1

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2026