South Korea picked up three gold medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, Yonhap News Agency reported. It could have been more. Several finals went the other way, and the clock on the Games is running down.
Gold from archery, sailing and esports
On the first day of the recurve archery medals, South Korea left Okazaki with one gold, one silver and one bronze. Lee Woo-seok, Kim Je-deok and Kim Woo-jin beat India 5-1 in the men’s team final. It was the country’s second straight title in the event. Lee and Kim Je-deok were part of the winning team in 2023, while Kim Woo-jin collected his first team gold since 2010.
The women’s team was not as lucky. Kang Chae-young, Lee Yun-ji and Oh Ye-jin lost 5-3 to India in the day’s first medal event, which stopped a run of seven straight golds. Kim Je-deok and Kang then took bronze in the mixed team event after struggling in blustery conditions at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square, about 50 kilometers southeast of Nagoya.
Ha Jee-min won the men’s dinghy sailing title at Kaiyoh Yacht Harbor in Gamagori. It was his fourth career Asian Games gold. Kim Chang-ju and Lee Gyeong-jin sailed with him in the mixed dinghy, which ended in silver.
In esports, South Korea defended its League of Legends title with a 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei. Lee Sang-hyeok, known as Faker, sat out the final, and his teammates covered for him. It was the country’s second esports gold of these Games.
Silvers and bronzes elsewhere
The rest of the day brought plenty of podium finishes, but few of them gold.
- Women’s football beat China 1-0 in Osaka for bronze. Noh Jin-young scored with a header in the fourth minute, and it was South Korea’s first win over China in 11 years.
- Nam Ji-sung and Park Ui-sung lost the men’s doubles tennis final to Japan’s Yusuke Kusuhara and Shunsuke Nakagawa, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). The silver was South Korea’s only tennis medal at these Games.
- Two boxers reached finals and both lost. Jang Dong-hwan lost to Uzbekistan’s Abdumalik Khalokov on a unanimous decision at 60kg, and Kim Min-seong went down 4-0 to India’s Ankush Panghal at 80kg.
- Ju-jitsu brought two silvers and two bronzes, and judo two silvers and three bronzes.
Taekwondo sparring began without a gold. An Hyang-sik in the men’s -58kg and Kwak Min-ju in the women’s -67kg were the team’s only medalists of the day, and both lost in the semifinals.
The three golds lifted South Korea’s total to 33, a distant third behind China and Japan. A few more are expected on Saturday, Yonhap said, but the country is unlikely to reach its target of 40 to 45 golds.
