JAKARTA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- China failed to snatch its sixth consecutive gold medal in women's badminton team event after losing to top-seeded Japan 3-1 in the 18th Asian Games final here on Wednesday.
The Chinese women shuttlers kicked off their winning trip back to 1998 in Bangkok.
Top singles player Chen Yufei propelled China to leading position through her 21-15, 21-12 victory over Yamaguchi Akane.
Japan made their response as world No. 1 pairing Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka marched past Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 21-12, 21-17.
That attached more importance to the duel between second singles options, He Bingjiao of China and Japanese Okuhara Nozomi.
After losing the first game 21-16, He survived an injury scare in saving a ball during the second game. She returned to court after medical check, and went on to savor the victory of 21-19 to force a decider.
He dug herself in a hole of 6-17 in the third game, before nailing the next eight points to whittle down the deficit to three points. But she could not inch closer to Okuhara, who closed out the game 21-15.
In their debut at the tournament, Huang Dongping and Zheng Yu lost to Olympic champions Matsutomo Misaki and Takahashi Ayaka 21-16, 21-11.
