North Korea's Ri Jin-mi Wins Silver in Women's Singles Soft Tennis

Ri Jin-mi (24) has won a silver medal, marking the first-ever soft tennis medal for a North Korean athlete in Asian Games history.

Ri narrowly lost 3-4 (1-4, 2-4, 4-1, 4-1, 0-4, 6-4, 1-7) to Japan's Rena Tenma in the women's singles final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 23rd.

Ri's silver medal is the best result ever achieved by North Korean soft tennis at the Asian Games.

Earlier in the day, Ri defeated South Korea's Hwang Jeong-mi (19, NH Nonghyup Bank) in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals, where she thoroughly defeated Japan's Kiho Miyamae 4-0 to reach the final.

Previously, Ri Jin-mi and Ri So-hyang (27) advanced to the singles semifinals, presenting North Korea—which had been struggling without a medal in this tournament—with its first medals.

Soft tennis does not hold third-place playoff matches, meaning players who advance to the semifinals secure at least a bronze medal.

Ri So-hyang lost to Tenma in the semifinals and won a bronze medal.

North Korea collected its first-ever medals in the soft tennis event at the Asian Games on this day.

Competing in Asian Games soft tennis—traditionally dominated by South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan—for the 4th time following the 2010 Guangzhou, 2018 Jakarta-Palembang, and 2022 Hangzhou Games, North Korea finally captured medals.

South Korea, which had won the most soft tennis gold medals with 26 up to the Hangzhou Games, finished this tournament with only three bronze medals from the men's and women's team events and the mixed doubles.

North Korea harvested three medals in a single day, combining Ri Song-gum's gold medal in women's 49kg weightlifting with a silver and a bronze medal won in soft tennis.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.