Thailand, the world's dominant force, seeks its 5th consecutive gold

South Korea's sepak takraw team competes in the women's team regu event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. [Korea Sepaktakraw Association]
South Korea's sepak takraw team competes in the women's team regu event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. [Korea Sepaktakraw Association]

South Korea's women's sepak takraw team has advanced to the final of the team regu event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games for the third consecutive time.

South Korea defeated Indonesia 2-0 in regu score in the women's team regu semifinal Thursday at Mizuho Park Gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan, securing at least a silver medal. Having claimed silver at both the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and the 2022 Hangzhou Games, South Korea has now reached the final three times in a row.

South Korea seized the initiative by winning the first regu 2-0 in sets (15-9, 15-11). In the second regu, the team dropped the opening set 13-15 and fell behind in the second before turning the tide to win it 15-13 and level the regu at 1-1. South Korea then took the deciding set 15-11 to complete a 2-1 comeback and book its place in the final.

Four countries — South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia and Japan — competed in the women's team regu at these Games. In the round-robin preliminary stage, South Korea went 2-1 to finish second behind Thailand, which went unbeaten at 3-0. Having swept Indonesia 3-0 in regu score during the preliminaries, South Korea defeated the same opponent again in the semifinal.

Awaiting South Korea in the final is, once again, Thailand — the world's best. Thailand beat host Japan 2-0 in regu score in the other semifinal. The final between South Korea and Thailand is set for 9 a.m. Friday at the same venue.

Thailand is chasing its fifth consecutive gold, a streak that began at the 2010 Guangzhou Games. South Korea lost to Thailand in the final at both the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang and 2022 Hangzhou Games, settling for silver each time.

South Korea suffered another defeat to Thailand at these Games, falling 0-3 in regu score in the preliminary round Wednesday. If South Korea can avenge that loss in the final two days later, it will claim its first-ever gold medal in the women's team regu at the Asian Games.

South Korea's only Asian Games gold in sepak takraw came in the men's circle event at the 2002 Busan Games. The team is now chasing both its first women's team regu title and its first Asian Games sepak takraw gold in 24 years.

The team regu is a team event in which each side fields three regu of three players each, competing in succession to determine the winner. At these Games, the four nations played a full round-robin, with the top seed facing the fourth-place team and the second seed facing the third in the semifinals.

Asian Games sepak takraw traditionally awards bronze medals to both semifinal losers without a separate bronze-medal match. However, because only four countries entered the women's team regu at these Games, organizers decided to hold a separate bronze-medal match to avoid a situation where every participating team would automatically receive a medal.


yjc@heraldcorp.com