South Korea's quest to reclaim the Asian throne in women's handball begins tomorrow.

Led by head coach Lee Gye-chung, the women's national handball team will play their first round-robin match against Hong Kong at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow (September 19) at the Entrio in Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

In the women's handball tournament at this Asian Games, seven teams will face each other once, and the team with the best record will win the gold medal.

Following their opener, the national team will face Kazakhstan on September 20, Iran on September 22, Uzbekistan on September 23, China on September 25, and Vietnam on September 26, before playing their final round-robin match—effectively the gold medal match—against host nation Japan on September 27.

Having suffered a 29–19 defeat to Japan in the final of the previous Hangzhou Asian Games, the team is geared up for battle, determined to exact revenge on Japanese soil and reclaim the Asian title after eight years.

During a media event held at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province on September 9, head coach Lee Gye-chung stated, "Considering Japan's partisan home crowd and atmosphere, we will approach the matches with the mindset of starting down 0–5, conceding five goals first." He added that they would overcome those deficits through pure skill, capture the gold medal, and return to the summit of Asia.

South Korean women's handball has won seven out of the nine Asian Games since the sport was adopted as an official medal event at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games.

(Photo: Yonhap News)