(Nagoya = Yonhap News) Reporter Dae-ho Lee = The Korean men's fencing saber team achieved a milestone of four consecutive wins in the Asian Games team event after a bloody battle between Korea and Japan, with a one-point gap, and the e-sports fighting team also defeated its arch enemy Japan and won its first ever gold medal.
In addition, she smiled brightly as she won the gold medal in women's basketball by winning the final against Japan.
The men's saber team, consisting of Oh Sang-wook, Park Sang-won (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), Do Gyeong-dong (Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), and Hwang Hee-geun (Armed Forces Athletic Corps), defeated the host country, Japan, 45-44 in the men's saber team finals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 26th to reach the top.
This is the team's fourth consecutive victory following the 2014 Incheon, 2018 Jakarta and Palembang, and 2022 Hangzhou competitions.
Ace Oh Sang-wook, who had previously won two consecutive individual championships, scored the final point with a lightning strike in a 44-44 9-out match, winning two gold medals for the second time in a row.
Oh Sang-wook, who won his fifth gold medal in the Asian Games, closely followed his senior Koo Bon-gil (6), the record holder for the most gold medals among Korean players, by one point.
Korean fencing, which had lost to Japan by one point in the women's foil team final held earlier and ended up taking silver, took revenge with a dramatic finish in the men's saber.
A valuable gold medal was also born in e-sports.
The Korean national team, led by Yeon Je-gil, Bae Jae-min, and Lee Kwang-no, won its first ever gold medal by defeating the host country, Japan, with a set score of 5-2 in the e-sports fighting game finals held at the Aichi Sky Expo.
In the finals, which alternated between Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and The King of Fighters
Kang Dong-shin, who participated in the eSports Puyo Puyo Champions event, lost 2-10 to Japan's 11-year-old 'prodigy' Yuki Kurihara in the final and won the silver medal.
Kurihara was named the youngest Asian Games gold medalist in history.
The finale of the gold medal race was women's basketball.
The national team, led by coach Park Soo-ho, won the gold medal by defeating Japan 75-70 in the women's final held at the Aichi International Arena.
It has been 12 years since the 2014 Incheon Games that Korean women's basketball stood on the highest podium.
Additionally, this is the first time in 32 years since the 1994 Hiroshima Games that Korean women's basketball won the Asian Games held overseas.
The day before, Korea defeated 'Great Wall' China, led by 220cm center Zhang Ziyu, and took the momentum into the final stage, showing off its power by winning the championship despite being knocked out.
With this, Korean men's and women's basketball won the Asian Games together for the first time in 12 years.
In the canoe sprint, which has become a 'big name event', two silver medals were awarded.
Jang Sang-won, who participated in the men's kayak single-man 500m final, won the silver medal with a time of 1 minute 44.433 seconds, following Uzbekistan's Shahryor Makhkamov (1 minute 43.642 seconds).
Jang Sang-won, who previously won the gold medal in the 4-person kayak 500m, earned his second medal in this competition.
In the mixed kayak two-person 500m final, the team of Choi Min-gyu and Seon Min-ju won the silver medal with a time of 1 minute 40.349 seconds, following China (1 minute 39.444 seconds).
Choi Min-gyu, who was the winning member of the 4-seater kayak, also won his second medal of the competition.
Bronze medals were awarded in diving and shooting.
The women's diving team of Kim Na-hyun (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Office) and Moon Na-yoon (Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Office) received a total of 276.90 points in the first to fifth periods in the synchronized 10m platform final held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, winning the bronze medal following China (347.82 points) and North Korea (317.64 points).
In the women's 50m rifle 3-position final, Kim Ji-eun, who competed in her first Asian Games, took third place with 348.4 points, giving Korea a medal in this event 12 years after Jeong Mi-ra (silver medal) at the 2014 Incheon Games.
The world's strongest archery team set records starting from the ranking round to determine seeding, signaling a promising start toward sweeping all events.
Kang Chae-young (Hyundai Mobis) advanced to the finals in first place by scoring 685 points out of 720 in the women's archery recurve ranking round held at the multi-purpose plaza of Okazaki Central Park in Aichi Prefecture, and in the men's recurve event, Kim Je-deok (Yecheon County Office) took second place with 693 points.
In both the recurve men's and women's team event and the mixed team event, they took first place, sweeping away the No. 1 seeds.
Ahn Se-young, the 'absolute top' in women's badminton, where even the bracket is meaningless, easily reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Games with an overwhelming performance.
Ahn Se-young, ranked No. 1 in the women's singles world rankings, defeated Sri Lanka's Ranitma Tinudi Weihena Liyanage 2-0 (21-9 21-10) in 35 minutes in the round of 16 of the badminton women's singles.
On this day, Ahn Se-young easily announced victory despite going through a harsh schedule of playing two games in one day, from the round of 32 to the round of 16.
If Ahn Se-young, who swept the team event and singles event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, reaches the top of the singles event at this tournament, she will achieve the great feat of winning two consecutive titles for the first time in the history of the badminton women's singles at the Asian Games.
In ball sports, men's and women's handball delivered good news.
The men's handball team, led by coach Cho Young-shin, defeated China 32-26 in the quarterfinals and advanced to the semifinals for the first time in eight years since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. The national team will compete to advance to the finals on the 28th against powerhouse Qatar, which is aiming for its fourth consecutive victory in the tournament.
Additionally, the Korean women's handball team defeated Vietnam 46-18 and won all five games.
Korea will face Japan in the final full-league match, which will be held at the same venue at 6 p.m. on the 27th. If there is a draw or a win in this match, Korea will win the gold medal.
Korean baseball, which lost 0-5 in the first game of the Super Round against Japan the previous day, won 9-2 in the second game of the Super Round against China and advanced to the finals.
Korea will challenge for its fifth consecutive gold medal in the final match against Japan at the same venue at 6:30 pm on the 27th.
As of the 26th, Korea is ranked 3rd overall with 16 gold medals, 21 silver medals, and 36 bronze medals.
First place is China (107 gold medals), and second place is Japan (31 gold medals). Uzbekistan moved up to fourth place, pushing out Kazakhstan with 8 gold medals, 17 silver medals, and 9 bronze medals.
