The South Korean men's and women's national field hockey teams are beginning their journey toward winning medals together at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The men's national team will play their first Group A match against Bangladesh at 11:00 AM tomorrow (September 18) at the Green Stadium in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

Shortly after, the women's national team will play their opening Group A match against Taiwan at 1:00 PM at the same venue.

All hockey matches for this tournament will be held at the Green Stadium in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, and the winning teams of both the men's and women's divisions will secure qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The men's national team, which won a bronze medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held in 2023 to step back onto the podium for the first time in nine years since the 2014 Incheon Games, has been placed in Group A alongside India, the defending champions and strong favorites from the last tournament, and hosts Japan, the silver medalists from the Hangzhou Games.

Since only the top two teams in the group can advance to the semifinals, they must defeat Japan in the group stage to keep their hopes of a medal alive.

The men's national team invited traditional powerhouse Pakistan to the Jincheon National Training Center in Chungcheongbuk-do for three evaluation matches before arriving in Japan on September 15.

The women's national team, which narrowly missed the gold after losing 0-2 to China at the Hangzhou Games to settle for a silver medal, stands at the starting line determined to get revenge through a rematch against China in the finals.

South Korea and China, placed in Group A, are expected to clash in the semifinals with India and Japan from Group B.

Both the South Korean men's and women's teams plan to counter Asia's powerhouses with strong pressure and counterattacks based on physical endurance.

(Photo provided by the Korea Hockey Association, Yonhap News)