South Korea Stuns Japan 3-1 to Reach Asian Table Tennis Final as Kang Wins Two Matches

Kang Dong-soo leads a surprise victory in Tashkent

South Korea's Kang Dong-soo, ranked 158th in the world, won two singles matches and took a game against Tomokazu Harimoto without conceding a point as his team defeated Japan 3-1 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on October 22, 2026. The victory sent South Korea into the men's team final at the 29th Asian Table Tennis Championships for the first time since 2021.

Japan fielded world No. 1 Sora Matsushima and No. 3 Harimoto, yet South Korea won three of the four singles contests. Park Gyu-hyun, ranked 80th, swept Matsushima 3-0, while Kang beat both Hiroto Shinozuka and Harimoto.

South Korea achieved the result without leading players Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon, who had competed at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. A squad drawn largely from outside that leading group will now face China, which defeated Taiwan 3-1 in the other semifinal.

The result also reversed the outcome of the recent Asian Games semifinal, where Japan beat South Korea 3-0. For the Korean players selected in Tashkent, the reward was a place in a continental final and a chance to win the title against China.

How the semifinal unfolded

Kang, who represents Samsung Life Insurance, opened against Shinozuka, ranked 20th. Their rankings were separated by 138 places, but Kang won in straight games, 11-8, 11-7, 19-17.

The third game was the longest of the semifinal. A table tennis game normally goes to the first player to reach 11 points, but a player must win by two. Kang and Shinozuka therefore continued well beyond 11 before Kang secured the two points needed to finish the match.

Harimoto then brought Japan level by beating Park Kang-hyun, ranked 46th, in three games. Park pushed him closest in the opening game, which ended 14-12, before Harimoto took the next two 11-9 and 11-6.

With the team score at 1-1, Park Gyu-hyun defeated Matsushima 11-4, 11-8, 11-9. Kang returned for the fourth singles contest and beat Harimoto 11-2, 12-14, 11-0, 11-8, securing South Korea's third match victory and ending the semifinal.

• First singles: Kang Dong-soo beat Hiroto Shinozuka 3-0, putting South Korea ahead 1-0.
• Second singles: Tomokazu Harimoto beat Park Kang-hyun 3-0, bringing Japan level at 1-1.
• Third singles: Park Gyu-hyun beat Sora Matsushima 3-0, restoring South Korea's lead at 2-1.
• Fourth singles: Kang beat Harimoto 3-1, completing South Korea's 3-1 victory.

Why Kang's two wins mattered

Kang supplied two of South Korea's three victories. His opening win put Japan behind immediately, and his second ended the contest before a fifth singles match became necessary. In this team format, the first country to win three individual matches takes the tie.

Against Harimoto, Kang won the first game 11-2 but lost the second 14-12. He then answered with an 11-0 third game before closing out the match 11-8. The sequence made the scoreless game especially striking: it came immediately after Harimoto had drawn level at one game each.

Kang won six games and lost only one across his two appearances. Adding the individual points in his match against Harimoto gives Kang a 45-24 advantage. That total helps show the size of his winning margins, although the contest itself was decided by games rather than by adding every point together.

His two opponents also presented different ranking gaps. Shinozuka stood 138 places above him, while Harimoto was 155 places higher. Kang overcame both in the same team contest.

Park Gyu-hyun defeats the top ranked player

Park Gyu-hyun's victory was just as necessary to South Korea's progress. After Harimoto had erased Japan's early deficit, Park faced Matsushima with the team score level. His straight games win left South Korea needing only one more match.

Park, a Mirae Asset Securities player, conceded 21 points across the three games while scoring 33. Matsushima came closest in the third, reaching nine points, but Park finished without allowing the match to extend to a fourth game.

South Korea therefore collected two of its three victories without losing a game: Kang's opening match against Shinozuka and Park's win over Matsushima. Across the entire semifinal, South Korea won nine games to Japan's four.

Park Kang-hyun, also of Mirae Asset Securities, lost his match against Harimoto. His teammate's subsequent victory ensured that Japan's only successful singles appearance did not become the start of a comeback.

A reversal of the Asian Games result

South Korea had lost to Japan at the same stage of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games about a month earlier. Jang Woo-jin, Ahn Jae-hyun and Oh Jun-seong played in that 0-3 semifinal defeat, which left the Korean team with bronze.

Japan went on to defeat China in the final, winning its first men's team gold at the Asian Games since the 1966 Bangkok Games, a gap of 60 years. Matsushima and Harimoto were therefore arriving in Tashkent after a major team success.

Harimoto, a member of Japan's Asian Games title winning team, had spoken confidently after that victory about his performance and the level needed to win.

I was dominating every single point

He also described his belief that victory was possible without playing at full capacity.

I think it's true that you can win even without being 100 percent

In Tashkent, Harimoto beat Park Kang-hyun but lost to Kang. Japan finished with one singles victory, while a different Korean selection advanced to the final.

Two competitions, two different milestones

South Korea's return to the Asian Championships final ended a five year wait. Its previous appearance came in 2021, when it defeated Taiwan to win the title. China did not participate in that tournament because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Asian Games record concerns a separate competition. South Korea's recent semifinal defeat to Japan ended a run of 11 consecutive men's team finals at those Games. Its medal history includes gold in Seoul in 1986 and Beijing in 1990, followed by eight consecutive silvers from the 1994 Hiroshima Games through the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

The Tashkent victory gives South Korea another opportunity to win the Asian Championships title, this time with China waiting in the final. The contrast with 2021 is direct: Taiwan was the opponent then, while China was absent.

• 2021: South Korea defeated Taiwan in the Asian Championships final.
• About a month before the Tashkent semifinal: Japan beat South Korea 3-0 at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and later defeated China for gold.
• October 22, 2026: South Korea defeated Japan 3-1 in Tashkent to reach the Asian Championships final.

China awaits, with conflicting start times

China reached the men's final by defeating Taiwan 3-1, matching South Korea's winning score against Japan. The final pairs a Korean squad missing several leading players with the team that was absent when Korea last won this event in 2021.

The final was scheduled for October 22, but the stated time is inconsistent. The Korean time listing gives 9:45 p.m., while another listing gives 9:45 p.m. local time in Tashkent. Those would be different starting times because South Korea is four hours ahead of Uzbekistan; the confirmed start time and final result were not available.

South Korea enters that match with three singles victories from two players against Japan. Kang supplied the opening and deciding wins, while Park Gyu-hyun beat Japan's highest ranked player. Those performances earned the Korean selection its place in the title match.

Korean women finish with bronze

South Korea's women's team also reached the semifinals in Tashkent but lost to China, finishing with a bronze medal. The team competed without Shin Yu-bin, one of its leading players.

The two Korean teams therefore had different outcomes against their semifinal opponents. The women completed their team campaign with bronze, while the men advanced to face China for the championship.

Key Points

• South Korea beat Japan 3-1 in Tashkent on October 22 to reach its first men's Asian Championships team final since 2021.
• World No. 158 Kang Dong-soo defeated Shinozuka and Harimoto, winning one game against Harimoto 11-0.
• Park Gyu-hyun, ranked 80th, beat world No. 1 Matsushima in straight games.
• China defeated Taiwan 3-1 to reach the final against South Korea.
• South Korea's women's team, competing without Shin Yu-bin, took bronze after losing to China.