South Korea Women's Handball Beats Japan for First Asian Games Gold in 8 Years

South Korea's women's handball team climbed back to the top of the Asian Games for the first time in eight years, combining for a gold medal.

South Korea beat Japan 27-23 on the 27th in the sixth and final round-robin match of the women's handball competition at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Entrio in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The women's handball competition at this Asian Games decided its standings by round-robin results, without a knockout stage. South Korea downed Hong Kong (48-16), Kazakhstan (42-18), Uzbekistan (43-13), China (37-17) and Vietnam (46-18) in succession. Japan had also won all five of its earlier matches, effectively turning the South Korea-Japan showdown into a final.

South Korea has won eight of the 10 tournaments since women's handball became an official Asian Games event at the 1990 Beijing Games.

It is the first time in eight years, since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, that South Korea's women's handball team has taken the Asian Games title. The win also erased the pain of a loss to Japan in the final of the 2022 Hangzhou Games. Seeking to restore the team's standing, South Korea brought back Lee Kye-cheong, the coach who led the squad to gold eight years ago.