South Korean tennis star Kwon Soon-woo (Chungnam Sports Council) has retired from the third round of the men's singles at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games due to a left knee injury.

Playing against Khumoyun Sultanov of Uzbekistan in the men's singles third round at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya, Japan, on September 30, Kwon complained of pain in his left knee and declared his retirement just 11 minutes into the match.

He was trailing 0-3 in the first set.

Having played both his second-round singles and second-round men's doubles matches the previous day, Kwon finished his doubles match past midnight on September 30 due to schedule delays caused by rain.

Paired with Hong Seong-chan (Dangjin City Hall) in the doubles, they were eliminated after losing 1-2 to the Japanese pair of Yusuke Kusuhara and Shunsuke Nakagawa.

Following Kwon's retirement, all South Korean players have been eliminated from both the men's and women's singles events.

Hong Seong-chan failed to pass the second round of the men's singles, while Ku Yeon-woo (CJ CheilJedang) and Baek Da-yeon (NH NongHyup Bank) were also eliminated in the second round of the women's singles.

The women's doubles pair of Park So-hyun (Gangwon State University) and Jung Bo-young (Andong City Hall) also failed to take the court for their second-round match today and withdrew.

It was reported that Park So-hyun was unable to play due to a bout with the flu.

The South Korean national tennis team had set a target of winning up to four gold medals at this tournament, but with the elimination of all players in both the men's and women's singles, achieving that goal is no longer possible.

(Photo courtesy of Korea Tennis Association, Yonhap News)