Korea’s Lee Jun-suk celebrates after winning the first set against Iraq’s Ali Jalil Mezher Alelayawi in the men’s singles teqball final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Higashi Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 20.YONHAP
Korea wasted little time jumping into the thick of the medal race at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, as it swept up four gold medals and 14 medals overall on Sunday, the first day following the opening ceremony in central Japan.
The first gold medal came, as expected, from modern pentathlon, where Seong Seung-min soared to the women's individual title. She became the first Korean woman to win an Asian Games individual title in pentathlon.
Seong finished with 1,492 points after competing in fencing, swimming, obstacle course racing and laser run — a combination of running and shooting — at Anjo Sports Park in Anjo, just southeast of the main host city of Nagoya, Zhang Mingyu of China was a distant second with 1,460 points, followed by another Chinese, Wu Xiyao, with 1,447 points.
Zhang and Wu led China to the team gold medal along with Meng Xin (1,411 points), while Korea, with Seong, Kim Un-ju (1,399) and Shin Su-min (1,380), got the silver.
A few minutes before Seong topped her competition, cyclist Shin Ji-eun delivered the country's first medal by winning bronze in the women's time trial event in road cycling.
Shin finished with a time of 36:56.14, 32.42 seconds behind the champion, Rinata Sultanova of Kazakhstan.
Korea's second gold medal also came from modern pentathlon, with the men's team of Jun Woong-tae (1,595), Lee Jong-hyeon (1,593) and Seo Chang-wan (1,591) combined for 4,779 points. Individually, Jun and Lee won silver and bronze medals, behind Li Liuchang of China (1,598 points).
Minutes later, Lee Jun-suk then delivered Korea's third gold of the day in teqball, where he was crowned the inaugural men's singles champion.
Lee Jun-suk defeated Ali Jalil Mezher Alelayawi of Iraq 2-0 (12-11, 12-5) in the final, as teqball made its Asian Games debut in Nagoya.
Korean players pose for a photo on the podium after winning gold in the men’s basketball competition at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 20.YONHAP
Teqball combines elements of football, table tennis, freestyle skills and sepaktakraw. It is played on a curved table, with players allowed to hit the ball with any part of their body except the hands and arms.
Lee Jun-suk, a former football midfielder who reached the fourth division in Korea, quit his day job this year to focus on preparing for the Asian Games.
The men's basketball team put a golden finishing touch, beating Japan 67-57 in the final for Korea's first gold in 12 years.
Forward Lee Hyun-jung scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to join his mother, Seong Jeong-a, as Asian Games basketball champions. Seong won gold at the 1990 Beijing Asiad.
Also on Sunday, Korea collected two bronze medals in soft tennis, as both the women's and the men's teams lost to Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.
There is no bronze medal contest in soft tennis, where losers of the semifinals are all awarded bronze.
In shooting, Ban Hyo-jin celebrated her 19th birthday by winning bronze in the women's 10-meter air rifle event.
In Tokyo, Korea came away with one silver and two bronze medals on the first day of swimming.
Kim Young-beom and Hwang Sun-woo stood on the podium together as the silver and bronze medalists in the men's 100-meter freestyle at Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Lee Ju-ho claimed his third straight bronze in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
