Korean women's handball, Asian Games gold medal match against Japan... “Defense is the key”

(Inazawa [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Hyeon-gu = The Korean women's handball team, which will play the gold medal match against Japan at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, unanimously said that defense holds the key to success or failure.

The national team, led by coach Lee Gye-cheong, defeated Vietnam 46-18 on the 26th and recorded its fifth consecutive win in the full league along with Japan.

Korea and Japan will play the final game of the full league and the gold medal match at Entrio, Inazawa City, near Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan at 6 p.m. on the 27th.

Japan is attempting to win the title for the second time in a row, and Korea, which lost by 10 points to Japan in the 2022 Hangzhou Games, is eager to regain the top spot for the first time in eight years.

Coach Lee Gye-cheong said after the game, "Our and Japan's styles are similar," and predicted, "In the end, it will be a defensive battle tomorrow as well. The important thing is who makes fewer mistakes and who can reduce errors as much as possible."

At the media day event before the Asian Games, coach Lee said that he would win the game against Japan in enemy territory with the secret determination of "we start off with a 0-5 loss by giving up 5 goals first," and pledged, "Many Japanese cheering squads will come tomorrow, and I will recreate the attitude of the players that was shown in the game against China so that we can become a true winner (by defeating Japan's one-sided cheering)."

National team captain Kwon Na (36, Busan Facilities Corporation) also bet on effective defensive transition, saying, “Japanese players are fast, so I think we need to quickly move to the backcourt.”

World-class striker Ryu Eun-hee (36, Busan Facility Corporation), who played defense and adjusted his condition in the second half of the day, said, "The young players performed well against China, so they were in a scary mood." He added, "If we strengthen our defense like that, I think we will have a good game against Japan as well."