Baseball Claims 5th Straight Gold, Skateboarding Secures Historic First Title at Asian Games

The flurry of golden tidings for South Korean national athletes continued even on the final day of the Chuseok holiday.

The South Korean national baseball team achieved the feat of winning its fifth consecutive Asian Games gold medal, while 17-year-old high schooler Kang Jun-i (Seoul Yeongdeungpo High School) carved his name into history as South Korea's first-ever skateboarding gold medalist.

In addition, 37-year-old veteran Nam Dong-heon reclaimed South Korea's supremacy in equestrian after 12 years, while the women's handball and women's sabre fencing teams both defeated host nation Japan in their respective finals to capture team gold medals after 8 years, completing a spectacular golden day for the South Korean delegation.

Led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun, the baseball team defeated archrival Japan 3-1 in the final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today (September 27).

Tied 1-1, South Korea scored two precious runs in the top of the 8th inning, once again proving the international tournament-specific winning formula known as the "promising 8th inning."

They completely avenged the pain of their 0-5 shutout loss to Japan two days prior in the Super Round opener on the most important final stage, standing proudly at the top of the podium.

With this victory, South Korean baseball has built a monumental milestone of five consecutive Asian Games titles, following triumphs at Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014, Jakarta-Palembang 2018, and Hangzhou 2022.

Tidings breaking a long stagnation and reviving the gold rush in equestrian also followed.

Nam Dong-heon competed with his horse 'Leonidas' in the individual dressage final, winning the championship with a final score of 75.190 points to edge out China's Wu Jiayi (75.050 points).

Nam claimed his second medal of the games, following his silver medal in the team dressage event on September 25.

This marks 12 years since Hwang Young-shik won the individual dressage event at the 2014 Incheon Games, making him the first South Korean to do so since.

Kang Jun-i, who is twenty years younger than Nam, stood at the highest step of the podium in the men's street skateboarding final held at the Aichi Sky Expo Hall in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, with a total score of 180.85 points, outpacing Japan's Sasaki Toa (172.35 points).

This is the first time, across both men's and women's events, that a South Korean athlete has won a gold medal in this discipline since skateboarding was first adopted as an official Asian Games event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

The South Korean women's handball team defeated archrival Japan 27-23 in their final round-robin match to claim the gold medal with a perfect record of six wins in six games.

Clearing away the humiliation of a 19-29 crushing defeat against Japan in the final of the previous Hangzhou 2022 Games three years ago, South Korea reclaimed the top spot for the first time in 8 years since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, celebrating its 8th Asian Games title overall.

The women's fencing team also extended the gold rush after 8 years with exhilarating golden thrusts.

Composed of Jeon Ha-young (Seoul Metropolitan Government), Kim Jeong-mi, Seo Ji-yeon (both from Ansan City Hall), and Choi Se-bin (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), the women's sabre team defeated Japan 45-31 in the team final to claim the championship.

Having reached the top at the Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Games, South Korea shook off the disappointment of settling for a bronze medal at the Hangzhou Games to reclaim the Asian throne after 8 years.

In athletics, South Korea's high jump icon and "smile jumper" Woo Sang-hyeok (30, Yongin City Hall) set a valuable milestone by winning a medal for the third consecutive Asian Games.

Woo cleared 2.22 meters in the men's high jump final to take home the bronze medal.

Having previously won a silver medal with 2.28 meters at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and another silver with 2.33 meters at the Hangzhou 2022 Games, he added a precious bronze at the Nagoya Games to stand on the Asian Games podium for three consecutive tournaments.

Medals also came from swimming diving.

Kim Su-ji and Kim Na-hyun scored a total of 254.70 points across rounds 1 through 5 in the women's synchronized 3-meter springboard final held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, taking the silver medal behind China's Chen Yiwen and Chang Yani pair, who recorded 328.56 points.

Kim Na-hyun, who partnered with Moon Na-yoon (Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Hall) the previous day to win a bronze medal in the synchronized 10-meter platform, secured her second medal of the games.

Shin Jung-hwi (National Sports Promotion Corporation) and Kim Young-tak (Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Hall) placed third with a total score of 375.90 points across rounds 1 through 6 in the men's synchronized 10-meter platform final, following China's Yang Hao and Lian Junjie pair (465.54 points) and Malaysia's Bertrand Rhodict Anak Lises and Enrique Harold pair (377.52 points) to capture the bronze medal.

Badminton women's singles world No. 1 An Se-young defeated world No. 5 Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand) 2-0 (21-8, 21-9) in the women's singles quarterfinals, successfully advancing to the semifinals.

An will face world No. 4 Chen Yufei (China) in the semifinals on September 28.

Men's doubles world No. 1 Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho also advanced to the semifinals by defeating Japan's Hiroki Nishi and Kakeru Kumagai (world No. 20) 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 21-15).

The South Korean archery team advanced to the semifinals in all six team events.

The semifinals and finals for the recurve men's team featuring Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok, and Lee Woo-seok; the recurve women's team featuring Kang Chae-young, Oh Ye-jin, and Lee Yoon-ji; and the mixed team pairing Kang Chae-young and Kim Je-deok will be held on October 2.

The compound men's team featuring Choi Yong-hee, Choi Eun-kyu, and Kim Jong-ho; the compound women's team featuring Kang Yeon-seo, Park Jung-yoon, and Park Ye-rin; and the mixed team pairing Park Jung-yoon and Choi Yong-hee have all secured their spots in the semifinals.

The color of the medals for the compound team events will be decided on September 30.

Additionally, the South Korean sepak takraw team and boxing men's 80kg competitor Kim Min-sung (Korea National Sport University) each secured semifinal berths, guaranteeing at least bronze medals and fueling the remaining medal race.

Having added 5 gold medals on this day alone, South Korea has accumulated 21 gold medals, maintaining 3rd place in the medal standings behind China (119 gold medals) and Japan (37 gold medals).

In 4th place is Uzbekistan with 10 gold medals.

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