With five days left until the closing of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, the South Korean delegation continued its steady stream of gold medals.

World number one badminton player An Se-young claimed the gold medal today (September 29) by defeating world number three Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 2-0 in the women's singles final at the Ichinomiya City Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

By winning this tournament following her victory at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, she wrote a new chapter in history by achieving the first-ever consecutive titles in women's singles badminton at the Asian Games.

Earlier, the women's doubles badminton pair of Lee So-hee and Baek Ha-na secured the gold medal by defeating world number one Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning of China 2-1 in the final.

The two athletes, who won silver at the Hangzhou Games, stood at the pinnacle of the Asian Games on their second attempt, achieving the remarkable feat of reviving South Korea's golden streak in women's doubles badminton for the first time in 24 years, since Ra Kyung-min and Lee Kyung-won at the 2002 Busan Games.

A gold medal also came from Kurash, a martial art similar to judo.

Kim Min-young won the women's over-87kg Kurash final by defeating Shih Liu-Ling of Taiwan 5-0.

Kurash, rooted in Central Asian traditional wrestling, was incorporated as an official Asian Games event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, marking South Korea's first-ever gold medal in the sport.

In weightlifting, heavyweight powerhouse Park Hye-jeong (Goyang City Hall) captured the silver medal, securing a podium finish in two consecutive games.

Park placed second in the women's over-86kg weightlifting event with a 133kg snatch, 167kg clean and jerk, and a total of 300kg.

Park, the gold medalist at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, aimed for the first consecutive titles in South Korean women's weightlifting history, but ultimately collected the silver medal after a fierce battle against women's weightlifting legend Li Wenwen of China.

In sport climbing, Lee Do-hyun scored 99.7 points in the men's bouldering semifinals, advancing to the final in first place among 15 competing athletes.

Chon Jong-won competed in the same event, scoring 74.7 points to finish sixth and secure a ticket to the final, which is awarded to the top eight.

In the subsequent women's speed preliminaries, Jung Ji-min and Sung Han-ah-reum placed second (6.25 seconds) and sixth (6.84 seconds) respectively among 17 competitors, advancing to the top-eight final.

The men's bouldering and women's speed finals will take place on September 30.

Good news also arrived from boxing.

Jang Dong-hwan in the men's 60kg division and Kim Min-sung in the men's 80kg division both won their respective semifinals 5-0 to advance to the finals, securing at least silver medals.

The finals will be held next month on October 2.

In archery, a traditional powerhouse for medals, Lee Woo-seok edged out Iran's Reza Shabani 6-5 in a shoot-off during the men's individual round of 16 to secure his spot in the quarterfinals.

Kim Je-deok, competing alongside him, lost to Neeraj Chauhan of India with a set score of 4-6 in the round of 16, suffering the first elimination among the national archery team members at this tournament.

However, Kim Je-deok will continue his pursuit of medals in the men's team and mixed team events.

In the women's individual event, Kang Chae-young and Oh Ye-jin advanced smoothly to the quarterfinals without major trouble.

Disappointing news was also delivered.

The South Korean women's national football team, aiming for its first-ever appearance in the final, failed once again to break its jinx.

Coached by Shin Sang-woo, South Korea fell 0-2 to host nation Japan in the semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Fukuroi, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on September 29.

Having missed out on a ticket to the final, South Korea will play against China for the bronze medal at the same venue on October 2 at 3:00 PM.

The South Korean track and field team also accepted a bitter scorecard with no silver medals.

The athletics team finished the tournament with three bronze medals, failing to add to their tally on the final day of competition in events such as the women's hammer throw, men's 5,000m, and men's 1,600m relay.

The bronze medals captured in the men's half marathon race walk by Choi Byung-kwang (Samsung Electronics), the high jump by Woo Sang-hyeok (Yongin City Hall), and the men's 400m relay were the team's sole podium finishes.

Having failed to win a gold medal the previous day, the South Korean delegation captured three gold medals on September 29, maintaining third place in the medal standings with 24 golds, 27 silvers, and 44 bronzes.

China leads the table with 143 gold medals, followed by Japan in second with 45 gold medals.

Uzbekistan climbed to fourth place with 14 gold medals, while North Korea ranked ninth after securing all seven of its gold medals in weightlifting.

(Photo: Yonhap News)