(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-ah = Taegeuk warriors who played in the 2026 Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games will gather in Jeju and compete for the honor of each region.
The 107th National Sports Festival will be held in Jeju Island, including Jeju World Cup Stadium, from the 16th to the 22nd.
In this competition, which is hosted by the Korean Sports Council and organized by Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Sports Council, more than 29,000 people representing each province and province will participate in 50 sports (49 formal, 1 demonstration jiu-jitsu).
This is the first time in 12 years since 2014 that the National Sports Festival will be held in Jeju.
The game will be played at 74 stadiums in and around Jeju Island. Shooting (Changwon), rowing (Chungju), hockey (Mokpo), and canoeing (Busan) are held outside Jeju Island.
This competition attracts attention with the participation of a large number of representative athletes from each sport who recently competed in the Asian Games.
Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), a two-time winner of the men's saber fencing team who was selected as the best player (MVP) of the Korean team at the Asian Games, will represent his hometown of Daejeon, while Song Sera (Busan Metropolitan City Hall), a gold medalist in the women's epee individual event, and Jeon Ha-young (Seoul Metropolitan City Hall), who led the way in winning the women's saber team event, will also participate.
Two gold medalists in shooting, Lee Geon-hyuk (Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation), swimming stars Hwang Seon-woo and Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Provincial Office), judo gold medalist Heo Mi-mi (Gyeongbuk Sports Council), modern pentathlon Jeon Woong-tae (Gangwon Provincial Sports Council), Seo Chang-wan (Jeonnam Provincial Office), Seong Seung-min (Korea National Sport University), and sport climbing women's lead gold medalist Seo Chae-hyun (Seoul City Hall) were also listed on the participation list.
Lee Woo-seok (Kolon), Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall), and Kim Je-deok (Yecheon County Office), who won the gold medal in the archery recurve men's team event together, and Kim Jong-ho (Hyundai Steel), who won the first ever gold medal in the archery compound men's individual event, will also participate.
Lee Dong-geun (Korea University), who became the first gold medalist in men's 3-on-3 basketball history at the Asian Games in Korea, is also playing his last tournament as a college student ahead of his participation in the KBL draft.
Badminton, gymnastics, cycling, and table tennis were held as pre-games.
Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), who succeeded in winning the badminton women's singles title twice in a row for the first time in Asian Games history at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, participated as a representative of Busan, contributed to winning the women's general team event, and will participate in the international competition held in Europe starting this week.
Asian Games women's vault gold medalist Yeo Seo-jeong (Jecheon City Hall) won four gold medals in the individual all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise in the women's general artistic gymnastics division at the National Sports Festival, reaffirming her top skills in the country.
The opening ceremony will be held at Jeju World Cup Stadium from 6 p.m. on the 16th for about an hour and a half.
The torch that will light up this competition was lit at Manisan Mountain in Ganghwa Island, Incheon on the 3rd, and a special flame was also lit at Sky Pond at Jeju Stone Culture Park on the 13th. The flame will tour 115 sections of Jeju Island before being finally ignited at the opening ceremony.
