Korean men's national handball team looks forward to its offensive power at the 2026 Asian Games

The area that the Korean men's national handball team is most excited about at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games is attack.

Led by Lee Joseph (28) and Kim Jin-young (26), who led the Incheon City Corporation's combined victory in the 2025-2026 season of the Handball H League, and Park Gwang-sun (30) of the SK Hawks, they dream of reaching the top of the Asian Games for the first time in 16 years.

Kim Jin-young, the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025-2026 season championship game, scored 40 goals at the Asian Championships held in Kuwait in January of this year and ranked tied for 5th place in scoring.

In this competition won by Bahrain, Korea ranked 5th. However, they gained confidence by defeating the strongest team, Qatar, which won three consecutive Asian Games and six consecutive Asian Championships, 32-31 in the group stage.

Men's national team coach Cho Young-sin predicted that Bahrain's strength, which ended the era of Qatar and emerged as the strongest player in Asia, will continue in the Asian Games.

In addition, while acknowledging the skills of the three Middle Eastern countries of Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, who have superior physical condition, individual skills, and speed, they pledged to overcome the sandstorm with play that emphasizes physical strength, including Korea's unique organizational ability and irregular defense.

Coach Cho selected Kim Jin-young, last season's regular league MVP and top scorer Lee Joseph, who shows off his peak skills, regular league MVP and top scorer Park Gwang-sun in the 2020-2021 and 2024-2025 seasons, and 2024-2025 season rookie king Kim Tae-gwan as key players.

Joseph Lee, Jin-young Kim, and Gwang-soon Park will participate in the Asian Games for the second consecutive time following the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

Park Gwang-soon is a proven veteran with a total H-League score of 817 points and 312 assists, along with 1,129 attack points.

Joseph Lee had the next highest number of attack points, 939, including 576 points and 363 assists.

Kim Jin-young is a right back with both height and speed, and his passing ability has been evaluated to have improved recently.

Center back Lee Joseph is a playmaker and solver with both scoring and assisting abilities, and Park Gwang-soon, who is good at fighting, is a scorer with power and breakthrough ability.

In particular, Park Gwang-soon is famous as a cannon shooter who throws a fast ball at around 110 km/h, so he is expected to deliver a heart-piercing shot at the Asian Games.

Korea, which was pushed out of the medal zone in Asia, is struggling to provide an opportunity for revival at the Asian Games.

Based on their tremendous activity, they challenged the three Middle Eastern countries and the host country, Japan, with quick offense and defense transitions and quick attacks backed by strong defense.

If the three, Joseph Lee, who is good at irregular shooting, Jinyoung Kim, who is good at mid-distance shots with high jumps, and Gwangsoon Park, who has excellent one-on-one breakthrough ability, create a synergy effect in scoring, they could become the surprise protagonists of the podium.