(Inazawa [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Hyeon-gu = The women's handball team members enjoyed the exhilarating feeling of avenging their debt for losing the gold medal by 10 goals to Japan in the finals of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in Japan's home stadium for the first time in three years.
The national team led by coach Lee Gye-cheong defeated Japan 27-23 in the final match of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games full league, which ended in Entrio, Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 27th, and won the gold medal by winning all six games.
This is their first return to the top eight years since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and their eighth Asian Games gold medal in total.
Goalkeeper Park Sae-young (Samcheok City Hall), who blocked Japan's goals 12 times and reliably guarded the goal with an ERA of 41%, told reporters in the common coverage area after the game, "I cried three years ago when I lost the gold medal, but today I am so happy. There are still the Asian Championships and the Los Angeles Olympics left, so I want to continue to show that I can win there as well."
Park Sae-young gave credit for the save to her teammates, saying, “I practiced defense a lot, but my defense was that good, and thanks to that, I was able to block it.”
36-year-old captain Kwon Kwon-na (Busan Facilities Corporation) said, "I feel so good that I can't express it," and added, "I think the wounds from the previous competition have been washed away. We were more united than ever, and I think we had a stronger desire to win than Japan."
He said, "The coach said (during media day) that we would go into the game with the mindset that we would start off with a 0-5 loss to Japan, but we didn't think that way and thought we would go out strong from the beginning. That way, the Japanese players wouldn't show weakness either. We played with the sole intention of winning."
Kwon Na said, “Recently, women’s handball has been in a bit of a slump, but I am very proud to have shown once again that it is ‘not dead yet,’ ‘has not collapsed,’ and ‘has not collapsed.’” Afterwards, she screamed loudly and enjoyed the joy of victory.
Veteran striker Ryu Eun-hee (Busan Facilities Corporation), who is the eldest member of the same age group as Kwon Kwon-na and led the team to the gold medal, said, “I feel really good and I am very proud of the players who worked hard so far and I am glad that they have been rewarded with a medal.”
Ryu Eun-hee said, "This time, the spirit was strong and the players prepared thoroughly. They communicated frequently with each other," and added, "The young players injected energy into the team in their own way, so the entire team worked well together." He said that the harmony between old and new players was the driving force behind the gold medal.
He said he was not nervous at all despite the young juniors' overflowing motivation, and was surprised by the young players' composure, saying, "On the contrary, it seems like the seniors were more on fire."
Ryu Eun-hee, who has often heard the saying "A team with good offense can win a game, but a team with good defense can win the championship" said that she won the gold medal with defense, saying, "I think the coach's order to have everyone in the backcourt when the turnover whistle sounded to prepare for Japan's fast attack worked well today."
