South Korea falls short of gold medal goal, widening gap with Japan at Asian Games

At the closing of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, South Korea captured 39 gold medals, marking its third straight third-place finish and the fewest golds since 1982. The nation failed to meet its 40-45 gold target and widened the deficit to Japan to ten medals, a larger gap than that with fourth-place India, which earned 21 golds. Underperformance was noted in swimming, archery (including the first loss of a women's archery gold since 1978), shooting, table tennis, wrestling, and judo, while taekwondo yielded only three golds.

Positive results came from basketball, where both men’s and women’s teams won gold for the first time in 12 years, and from team sports such as baseball, men's football, and women's handball. Fencing added four golds, and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee pledged a detailed analysis ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.