"40 to 50 gold medals, third place overall": South Korea's target for the Asian Games, Yoo Seung-min (Chairman) says "Goals should always be set high" [Jincheon Field]

*This content was translated by AI.

With 30 days remaining before the opening of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) Summer Asian Games, South Korea's national team has set a target of winning between 40 and 45 gold medals and securing third place overall.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee held an Asian Games D-30 opening media day event on the 20th at the National Athletes' Village in Jincheon, Chungbuk, and announced these goals.

In the 2002 Busan Games, South Korea won a remarkable 96 gold medals and finished second overall. It maintained second place overall through the 2006 Doha (Qatar) Games, the 2010 Guangzhou (China) Games, and the 2014 Incheon Games.

However, at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang (Indonesia) Games, South Korea won only 49 gold medals—a drop of 30 from the previous edition—and finished third overall. The country also remained in third place with 42 gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

For this tournament, South Korea's national team aims to maintain a similar level to the last two editions by targeting between 40 and 50 gold medals and securing third place overall.

South Korea will send 792 athletes competing in 41 sports at this event. The team aims to win two or more gold medals in 10 sports and targets at least one gold medal in another 11 sports.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has set a goal of winning three or more gold medals in archery (5), swimming, shooting, fencing, taekwondo (all 4 each), and badminton (3).

Additionally, the team aims for two or more gold medals in judo, table tennis, modern pentathlon, and e-sports. Other target sports for gold medals include athletics, baseball, football, gymnastics, handball, yachting, sepak takraw, sport climbing, wushu, jiu-jitsu, and krash.

South Korea's national team aims to narrow the gap in gold medal count with host nation Japan at this tournament. At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, South Korea won 45 gold medals compared to Japan's 75—a difference of 30. However, by the 2022 Hangzhou Games, the gap had narrowed to 10, with South Korea winning 42 and Japan 52.

Furthermore, the team hopes for additional medals in sports where it showed strength at the 2024 Paris Olympics and aims to discover promising talents who could be expected to perform well at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Yoo Seung-min, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, attended the media day event and said, "We have set our tournament goals at 40 to 50 gold medals and third place overall," while adding, "I believe goals should always be set high."

Lee Sang-hyun, Head Coach of the National Team, stated, "At the last Hangzhou Games, South Korea won 42 gold medals and finished third overall behind Japan. However, the total number of gold, silver (59), and bronze (89) medals was higher than Japan's." He explained, "Since this tournament is being held in Japan, I believe Japan will be stronger than ever before."

Nevertheless, Head Coach Lee Sang-hyun added, "South Korean athletes perform even better during times of crisis. If rookie athletes show fighting spirit and competitive performances that lead to good results, we expect outcomes that exceed expectations."

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*This content was translated by AI.