World No. 1 An Se-young opened her Asian Games campaign Tuesday, overwhelming her Malaysian opponent as South Korea reached the semifinals of the women's badminton team event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan. Playing the first singles match against Malaysia in the quarterfinals, An beat world No. 28 Letshanaa Karupathevan 2-0, taking the opening game in just 16 minutes. Korea won the best-of-five match 3-1. "You can't handle the pressure of a stage this big without going a little crazy,"

South Korea won silver in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games on Tuesday, its first silver medal in shooting after winning two bronze medals earlier in the competition. Ban Hyo-jin and Park Ha-jun finished second with 502.9 points in the final at Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, about 25 kilometers east of the main host city of Nagoya. China's Wang Zifei and Sheng Lihao won gold with a world record total of 507.1 points. Japan took bronze with 439.7 po

South Korean fencers, spearheaded by Song Se-ra, seek their second consecutive title in women's team epee at this year' Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday. South Korea won the event at the previous Hangzhou Asian Games for the first time in about 20 years. Song is at the forefront of the team, having been a member of the last gold medal-winning squad and winning silver in the individual event three years ago. In the pool, South Korean swimmers, including Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Young-beom, will p

South Korea lost to Japan in the semifinals of the women's volleyball tournament at the Asian Games on Monday, dropping to the bronze medal contest against Thailand. Japan defeated South Korea in straight sets, 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-16) in the semifinals at Park Arena Komaki in Komaki, just north of Nagoya. South Korea went undefeated in the group phase and eliminated Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals but could not get past the host country in its quest for its first gold since 2014. South Korea w

South Korea picked up five medals on the second day of the swimming competition at the Asian Games on Monday, led by record-breaking sensation Kim Young-beom. Kim won the men's 50-meter freestyle gold medal with an Asian record time of 21.66 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Just hours earlier in the heats, he had established the continental record with 21.71 seconds, and it did not even last a day. In that same race, Ji Yu-chan, the 2023 Asiad gold medalist and the former record holder, got the

Kim Seung-won grabbed the bronze medal in the women's 50-meter backstroke swimming at the Asian Games on Monday. The 16-year-old clocked 27.72 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre to win her first medal in her very first Asian Games event. Wan Letian of China claimed the gold medal in 27.47 seconds, 0.19 second faster than fellow Chinese swimmer, Wang Xueer. Kim's was South Korea's fifth swimming medal at this year's Asiad. She is also slated to compete in the 100m backstroke, women's 4x100m medley

South Korea won bronze in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay in swimming at the Asian Games on Monday, coming up shy of its title defense. The quartet of Kim Jun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sun-woo combined for a time of 7:06.76, finishing in third place at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, as China broke its own Asian record with 7:00.17. Japan, after leading most of the way, settled for silver in 7:01.05. Kim Woo-min, Lee and Hwang had won the 2023 Asian Games gold together with a

Yoon Ji-hwan won bronze in the men's 50-meter backstroke swimming event at the Asian Games on Monday, his first medal at the quadrennial event in his debut. Yoon, 20, clocked 24.54 seconds for bronze at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the Japanese capital. Xu Jiayu of China captured the gold medal with a new Asian Games record time of 24.04 seconds, beating his compatriot, Wang Zicheng, by 0.45 second. This was the fourth swimming medal for South Korea at this year's Asian Games. Swimming in Lane 5, Yo

Kim Young-beom grabbed the men's 50-meter freestyle swimming gold medal in record-breaking style at the Asian Games on Monday. The 20-year-old won the shortest swimming event with a new Asian Games record time of 21.66 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the Japanese capital. In the heats held earlier Monday, Kim had set an Asian Games record with 21.71 seconds, bettering the previous record of 21.72 seconds set by fellow Korean Ji Yu-chan when he won gold in 2023. Just hours later, Kim broke hi

Kim Young-beom raced to the men's 50-meter freestyle swimming gold medal in record-breaking style at the Asian Games on Monday. The 20-year-old won the shortest swimming event with a new Asian Games record time of 21.66 seconds at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the Japanese capital. In the heats held earlier Monday, Kim had set an Asian Games record with 21.71 seconds, bettering the previous record of 21.72 seconds set by fellow Korean Ji Yu-chan when he won the 2023 Asiad gold. Just hours later, Kim

Behind South Korea’s first Asian Games men’s basketball gold medal in 12 years on Sunday was an outstanding performance from Lee Hyun-jung, the 201-centimeter-tall, 25-year-old forward who grew up in a family steeped in basketball. Lee finished with 27 points and 18 rebounds against host Japan in Sunday’s final, powering Korea to a 67-57 victory and a perfect 6-0 run at the tournament. It was Korea’s fifth Asian Games men’s basketball title and its first on foreign soil since the 1982 New Delhi

No one scored more points, made more three-pointers, grabbed more rebounds or had more steals in the entire tournament. Considering the stakes, it would not be an exaggeration to say Lee Hyun-jung played the best basketball of his life during his six-game run to the gold medal for South Korea at the Asian Games this month. Lee poured in 27 points and grabbed 18 boards to help South Korea beat Japan 67-57 for the gold medal at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday, the country's f

South Korean swimming stars will seek to defend their men's relay title at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, while the women's football team will face North Korea in the first all-Korean match of the Games. The team of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Kim Young-beom will compete in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo. South Korea won the event for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Three years later, Kim Young-beom has joined

Hours before the men's basketball final at the Asian Games on Sunday, the South Korean team had to cancel its pre-match shootaround after its scheduled shuttle bus failed to show up. The entire team had been waiting for a bus to take them to a practice gym for a shootaround around 10 a.m. from their hotel, ahead of the gold-medal match against host country Japan at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya at 7:40 p.m. "It was an incident that upset our players," said Lee Seoung-hyun, the captain of S

Nikolajs Mazurs lost his first three games in charge of the South Korean men's basketball team after being appointed last December, and the team lost more games than it won under the Latvian coach entering the Asian Games -- causing many to wonder if he was the right man to lead the squad back to glory at the quadrennial event. But with each passing game in central Japan, South Korea demonstrated marked improvements in all aspects, with its smothering defense and efficient offense. It all culmin