On the first day of the Chuseok holiday, South Korea's national delegation competing at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games plans to deliver a wave of gold medals.

The athletes will continue their hunt for medals today across Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

At the Nagoya City Gymnasium today, South Korea's leading female artistic gymnast, Yeo Seo-jeong, will compete for the gold medal in the women's vault.

Having advanced through the vault preliminaries in first place on September 22, Yeo is expected to battle for the color of the medal against her rival, An Chang-ok of North Korea.

Yeo, the daughter of Yeo Hong-chul, executive managing director of the Korea Gymnastics Association and a silver medalist in the men's vault at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, is making another bid for gold eight years after her victory at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

She did not stand on the podium at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023, as she chose to skip the event to focus on the World Championships, which served as a qualifier for the team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

No South Korean female artistic gymnast has ever won two gold medals in the history of the sport.

There is also a possibility of a medal in the men's artistic gymnastics floor exercise.

Ryu Sung-hyun, who finished second in the preliminaries, is a strong prospect.

In the men's 10m air pistol, Hong Su-hyeon, So Seung-seob, and Kim Tae-young will challenge for medals.

So Seung-seob, the oldest member of the national team at 48 years old, is aiming for a medal at his very first Asian Games in his 37-year career.

In swimming, high hopes are pinned on the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.

Although Kim Woo-min's chances of competing are low due to a shoulder injury, Hwang Sun-woo, Lee Ho-joon, and Kim Young-bum will join forces.

Kim Jun-woo, a promising middle-and-long-distance swimmer competing in the men's 800m freestyle, will also make a bid for a medal.

Medals are also expected in rowing and wushu.

In fencing, Jeon Ha-young is aiming for gold in the women's sabre.

Kim Jung-mi, who is also competing in this event, along with men's épée fencers Park Sang-young and Jang Hyo-min, will also go for gold-winning thrusts.

Team sports will also continue their journey.

The women's basketball national team, which swept three matches in the group stage, will play its quarterfinals against Indonesia today.

South Korean women's basketball has won four Asian Games gold medals in total, with their most recent victory coming at the 2014 Incheon Games.

If the women's basketball team wins, they will achieve the feat of a combined men's and women's joint championship alongside the men's basketball team.

Puyo Puyo, which was adopted as an official medal event for the first time through these Games, begins today.

National athlete Kang Dong-shin will compete in the preliminaries against opponents including 11-year-old Japanese elementary school student Yuki Kurihara.

(Photo: Yonhap News)