South Korea targets top-three finish, up to 45 gold medals at upcoming Asian Games

By Yoo Jee-ho

JINCHEON, South Korea, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- With the next Asian Games in Japan a month away, South Korea on Thursday declared its goal of capturing up to 45 gold medals for a top-three finish in the medal race.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) gathered Japan-bound athletes at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 85 kilometers south of Seoul, for a media day marking the 30-day countdown to the 20th Asian Games. The quadrennial competition will be held in and around Aichi Prefecture, with the prefecture's capital, Nagoya, serving as the main host.

The opening ceremony will be held Sept. 19, though preliminary action for sports such as basketball, football, hockey and volleyball will take place in the days before that. The closing ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 4.

The competition will feature 45 nations and some 15,000 athletes competing in 43 sports. According to the KSOC, South Korea will send 792 athletes and 260 officials in 41 sports.

South Korea has finished in third place behind China and Japan at each of the past two Asian Games, after finishing in second place, trailing China, at five straight editions from 1998 to 2014.

Given its sheer dominance in international sports, China will most likely top the medal table for the 12th consecutive Asian Games. It will then leave South Korea and Japan to duke it out for second place, with the host country expected to capitalize on home field advantage.

KSOC President Ryu Seung-min noted South Korea's longstanding rivalry with Japan and said South Korean athletes will be especially fired up to compete on hostile ground.

"We are bound to compete with Japan in many areas and the fact that this year's Asian Games will take place in Japan gives our athletes extra motivation," Ryu said at a joint press conference with about a dozen athletes. "Competition venues and athletes' living quarters will be spread out and we at the KSOC will try to provide our best possible support for our delegation."

The KSOC is counting on multiple gold medals in sports such as archery, swimming, shooting, fencing, taekwondo, badminton, judo and e-sports, and at least one gold medal each from athletics, artistic gymnastics, sport climbing and sepaktakraw.

Among other team sports, South Korea is chasing its fifth consecutive gold in baseball and fourth consecutive title in men's football.

The KSOC acknowledged meeting its gold medal target will likely not be enough for second place but said its athletes will still try to narrow their gap with Japan.

In 2018, Japan won 75 gold medals to South Korea's 45. At the next competition in 2023, the gold medal count was 52-42 in Japan's favor.

Lee Sang-hyun, president of the Korea Cycling Federation and chief of the South Korean delegation, said he believed in his athletes' resilience.

"I expect Japan to put on a strong showing at home but our athletes have always excelled with their backs against the wall," Lee said. "I also hope some of our young athletes will surprise people and bring home medals."