South Korea Secures Three Gold Medals at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

By Yoo Jee-ho and Kim Boram

NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea earned a trio of gold medals Saturday as the first week of competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games winded down, raising its total to 16 with eight days remaining.

Fencer Oh Sang-uk grabbed his men's sabre team by its collar and dragged it to the gold medal in the team competition Saturday, the country's fourth in a row.

Oh trailed Mao Kokubo 44-41 in the last bout, a point away from losing the match, but then scored four consecutive points to complete the thrilling comeback.

South Korea took down Japan 75-70 in the women's basketball final for the country's first Asiad gold in 12 years. Lee Hae-ran led the way with 24 points and nine rebounds, as South Korea nearly blew a 20-point lead and hung on for dear life.

South Korea also picked up its first gold medal in esports on Saturday, with the team of Lee Kwang-noh, Yeon Jea-gil and Bae Jae-min beating Japan 5-2 in the fighting games final.

The players competed in Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and The King of Fighters XV, with South Korea winning both of its matches in The King of Fighters XV, two out of three showdowns in Tekken 8, and splitting the two matches in Street Fighter 6.

Earlier Saturday, Kang Dong-shin won silver in puzzle game Puyo Puyo Champions.

Before the men's sabre team final in fencing, South Korea settled for silver in the women's foil team event after losing to Japan 29-28.

South Korea led 27-22 with about 30 seconds left in the final bout, but Yuka Ueno scored seven straight points against Park Ji-hee for the home team's gold.

Elsewhere on Saturday, South Korea added two silver medals in kayak.

Jang Sang-won finished second in the men's kayak single 500-meter event with a time of 1:44.433, ending up just 0.791 second behind the winner, Shakhriyor Makhkamov of Uzbekistan.

Later in the day, Choi Min-kyu and Seon Min-ju combined for silver in the mixed kayak double 500m with a time of 1:40.349. China's Li Chenhao and Zhang Luxi won the gold medal in 1:39.444.

South Korea also got on the board in diving on its first day of action in Tokyo, where Kim Na-hyun and Moon Na-yun earned 276.90 points for bronze.

Kim Ji-eun brought South Korea its ninth shooting medal of the Asiad, winning bronze in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event.

South Korea beat China 9-2 in its second game of the Super Round in baseball and reached the gold medal game set for Sunday against Japan. South Korea is gunning for its fifth consecutive Asiad title.

The women's handball team ran its winning streak to five with a 46-18 win over Vietnam on Saturday. With no knockout phase in this Asiad, the winner of the final round-robin game on Sunday between South Korea and Japan, also boasting a perfect 5-0 record, will take the gold medal.

South Korea lost to Japan in the 2023 Asian Games final, after grabbing gold medals in 2014 and 2018.

The men's handball team defeated China 32-26 in the quarterfinals, setting up a semifinal date with the three-time defending champion Qatar.

South Korea is trying to win its first men's handball title since 2010.