Korea eyes archery, taekwondo gold medals in final week of Asian Games

The 21 gold medals, about halfway to Korea's goal of about 45, come from basketball, baseball, handball, fencing, artistic gymnastics and canoe sprint.

Korea has entered the final week of the medal competition at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 with 21 gold medals, about halfway to its target of about 45.

Early on, the country’s basketball teams thrived with three gold medals — one each in the men’s and women’s 5x5 hoops and in the men’s 3x3 basketball.

Among other team sports, Korea grabbed its fifth consecutive gold in baseball and its first gold since 2018 in women’s handball.

Fencers also carried the load by snapping up four gold medals, with Oh Sang-uk taking the men’s sabre individual title and leading Korea to the team gold medal as well.

Korea saw surprise champions emerge from artistic gymnastics and canoe sprint.

However, the country struggled in swimming and table tennis.

Korea had just one gold medal from the pool after collecting six titles three years ago and ended up with three bronze medals in table tennis — the country’s worst-ever Asian Games performance.

Over the final stretch, Korea is expected to collect gold medals from archery, taekwondo and judo.

Korea has reached the semifinals in all six team events in archery: men’s, women’s and mixed in both compound and recurve competitions. Korean archers are also considered medal threats in all individual compound and recurve events.

The national judo team features 2024 Olympic medalists Kim Min-jong, Lee Joon-hwan and Huh Mimi.

In team sports, Korea will chase its fourth straight gold in men’s football but its first-ever title in women’s football.

The women’s final is on Friday, followed by the men’s final on Saturday.

The Asian Games will wrap up with the closing ceremony on Sunday.

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