Korea beats China to advance to men's handball semifinals in Asian Games

Korea got past China to advance to the semifinals in men’s handball at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 on Saturday, two victories away from its first gold in 16 years.

Kim Rak-chan and Park Se-ung led Korea with six goals each, while two others contributed five goals apiece at Kasugai City Gymnasium in Kasugai, just northeast of the main host city, Nagoya, Japan.

In Monday’s semifinals, Korea will take on the winner of the Qatar-Iran quarterfinal match, which will be played later on Saturday.

Both the bronze medal match and the gold medal contest will be on Tuesday.

Korea trailed 5-4 about six minutes into the game before scoring the next four goals, grabbing an 8-5 lead. Its tight defense held China scoreless for over six minutes.

Korea did not let China get within three goals for the rest of the first half and took a 16-12 lead into the break.

Though China made it a 22-19 game midway through the second half, Korea killed any hopes of a comeback by opening a 28-22 lead with less than five minutes left.

Kim scored two goals in a 13-second span late in the match to seal the victory.

Yonhap