Korean women's basketball wins Asian Games gold medal for first time in 12 years

(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-ah = The Korean women's basketball team played a leading role in the golden era by winning the Asian Games gold medal for the first time in 12 years even without its 'mainstay' and 'ace'.

The women's basketball team, led by coach Park Soo-ho, won the championship by defeating Japan 75-70 in the final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan on the 26th.

This is the fifth Asian Games gold medal for Korean women's basketball, 12 years after the 2014 Incheon Games.

Although they set out with the goal of regaining the top spot, the women's national team's journey was not smooth.

This is because both Park Ji-soo (KB) and Park Ji-hyun (Los Angeles Sparks), who are currently considered leading stars, failed to appear. They have experience in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) or are key players in Korean women's basketball who are currently playing.

The national team set a strengthened training list of 13 players, including Park Ji-soo and Park Ji-hyun, and began training in July, and prepared for the Asian Games by playing an away evaluation match in Japan in August and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup this month.

Park Ji-hyun, who plays in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), was expected to only participate in the World Cup earlier this month and not participate in the Asian Games, depending on her team's schedule.

The national team waited until the end for Park Ji-soo, who was rehabilitating from ankle surgery, to join, but it was ultimately canceled as it became difficult for him to participate in the competition.

Two of the 13 players were left out, making it 11 players, but the national team did not fill in the 12th player and decided on the final entry with 11 players and entered the Asian Games.

After playing the World Cup in Germany and coming to Japan before the travel fatigue was over, their physical strength was bound to be affected. Going through a tight competition schedule with one less player than the other teams could have been fatal, but the national team actually became stronger.

Coach Park Soo-ho, who has been leading the national team since 2024, instead of filling up the number of players, decided to play the tournament with 11 players, trusting in the chemistry they have developed while training together since the summer.

Korea, led by Heo Ye-eun (KB), Kang I-seul (Woori Bank), Lee Hae-ran (Samsung Life Insurance), and Lee So-hee (BNK), refined quick transitions, organic passing, and outside attacks as its secret weapons, and scored over 100 points against Malaysia starting from the first game on the 18th, winning a landslide victory (106-40).

In the second game of the group stage, they defeated Mongolia 88-61, and in the third game against Taiwan, they comfortably won 73-59, advanced to the quarterfinals with three consecutive wins, and continued to show off their firepower by completely defeating Indonesia 101-59 in the quarterfinals.

For Korea, the semifinal match against 'Great Wall' China on the 25th was the biggest challenge of the tournament.

China's center Zhang Ziyi, who is over 220cm tall, was considered a particularly huge 'wall', but the women's basketball team fought back as equals by blocking the match with a strong defense with two or three players running in, and at the end, a long-shot shot broke the six-game losing streak against China and advanced to the finals.

Our national team was on a 7-game losing streak to Japan, our opponent in the finals, and suffered consecutive losses in two evaluation matches held in Tokyo in August, but this time Japan was unable to stop Korea, whose momentum was rapidly rising.

As the women's national team overcame various variables and negative factors, including a difficult match-up, and reached a 'golden finale', Korean basketball, which was once criticized for 'weakening international competitiveness', displayed its spirit by winning three out of four gold medals in 5-on-5 and 3-on-3 basketball at the Asian Games.

The men's and women's 5-on-5 national teams beat the host country, Japan, in the finals and raised the national flag at the highest point in Nagoya, and the 3-on-3 men's national team, made up of four college athletes, won the first gold medal in the history of this event, announcing the arrival of the 'golden generation'.