Youth finswimmers competed in 36 categories for boys' and girls individual and relay in the 14-15 and 16-17 age groups at the Hai'an Sports Centre Natatorium, Nantong City.

China’s Yu Zidi was less than a year old when Siobhan Haughey first made the world sit up and take notice of her talent in the pool, 13 years later they are both Asian Games gold medallists and young talent is the order of the day. On Monday, Haughey defended her women’s 200m freestyle title with a crushing victory, and Yu laid down an Asian record in winning the women’s 200m individual medley. Three years ago in Hangzhou, it was Haughey setting regional and Games records, and while not “as fast...

READ: Follow Inquirer Sports’ special coverage of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 Hours before the men’s basketball final at the Asian Games 2026 on Sunday, the South Korean team had to cancel its pre-match shootaround after its scheduled shuttle bus failed to show up. The entire team had been waiting for a bus to take

South Korea's delegation to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games faced a string of problems, from the wrong national anthem to poor housing conditions and repeated transportation failures, amid the organizers' sloppy planning and operations. On Friday, North Korea's national anthem was mistakenly played instead of South Korea's ahead of a men's field hockey Pool A match between South Korea and Bangladesh at Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara. The South Korean delegation demanded an explanation and sent an official letter of protest to the organizing committee. "The national anthem, a symbol of the country, should never be played incorrectly at an international multi-sport event, and we view this matter with utmost seriousness," Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) President Ryu Seung-min said. "We will do our best to protect our athletes so they can focus on competition without being affected by issues outside the games. We will also continue to demand that the organizing committee investigate the cause and take steps to prevent a recurrence." After the incident, two organizing com

NAGOYA, Japan — South Korean swimming stars will seek to defend their men's relay title at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, while the women's football team will face North Korea in the first all-Korean match of the Games. The team of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Kim Young-beom will compete in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo. South Korea won the event for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. Three years later, Kim Young-beom has joined Hwang, Kim Woo-min and Lee on the relay team. Kim Young-beom, a 20-year old rising star in short distance swimming in South Korea, won silver in the men's 100m freestyle event the previous day, while Hwang finished third. Kim broke Hwang's Korean record in the 100m discipline at a national competition last year. The women's volleyball team will face Japan in the semifinals. A victory would send South Korea to the Asian Games final for the first time since 2014. South Korea was eliminated from medal contention after losing in the quarterfinals at the previous Asiad in China. The baseb

Lee Bo-mi claimed bronze in women's mixed martial arts (MMA) in the sport's Asian Games debut Monday. In the semifinals of the women's modern -54 kilogram event, the 27-year-old South Korean fighter lost to Diana Pogosian of Bahrain 3-0. With no bronze medal bouts, all losers of the semifinals receive bronze medals here. MMA is making its first Asian Games appearance at Nagoya City Inae Sports Center in Nagoya, central Japan. Lee's competition began in the quarterfinals, where she defeated Lo Thi Phung of Vietnam 2-1. But Lee came up short against Pogosian in the next phase. Two other South Korean MMA fighters, Choi Eun-seok in the men's modern -77kg and Yoon Tae-young in the men's traditional 77kg, both fell in the quarterfinals.

South Korea claimed bronze in the men's 10-meter air rifle team event at the Asian Games on Monday, while two of its shooters missed out on individual medals. The trio of Park Ha-jun, Shin Min-ki and Gwon Hyeop-jun scored a combined 1,884.2 points in their individual qualification round, helping South Korea finish third in the team standings at Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, some 25 kilometers east of the main host city of Nagoya. Park led the way with 631.4 points, followed by Shin with 629.2 points and Gwon with 623.6 points. China grabbed the team gold with a world record score of 1,899 points, and India took silver with 1,890.1 points. Park and Shin qualified for the individual final for Monday afternoon but finished seventh and sixth, respectively. Park is the 2023 Asiad silver medalist in this event but did not come close to a medal this time. The men's team bronze was South Korea's second shooting medal at this year's Asiad in two days. On Sunday, Ban Hyo-jin won bronze in the women's 10m air rifle individual competition. Shooting will conclude Oct. 1.

South Korean karate fighter An Jeong-eun won the first inter-Korean match at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday. An beat North Korea's Jong Se-ri 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the women's -61 kilogram kumite event held at the Toyohashi Gymnasium in Toyohashi, some 70 kilometers southeast of the main host city Nagoya, Japan. In kumite, two competitors attack each other to score points, with the fighter who scores more points declared the winner. An advanced to the semifinals, where she lost to Gong Li of China 8-0. Jong is one of the two Korean residents of Japan competing at the Asian Games under the North Korean flag. Ri Song-a is the other, playing on the North Korean women's football team. The bout between An and Jong was the first all-Korean showdown at the Asian Games, which officially began Saturday. Later in the day, the two Korean women's football teams began their final preliminary-round match at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Fukuroi, about 104 kilometers east of Nagoya.

South Korea hammered Mongolia 88-61 on Monday to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of the women's basketball tournament at the ongoing Asian Games. Forward Lee Hae-ran led the balanced attack with 20 points at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, central Japan, where South Korea enjoyed its second straight victory in Group C. South Korea, after opening the competition with a 106-40 win over Malaysia on Friday, clinched a ticket to the quarterfinals before playing Chinese Taipei on Tuesday at the same Nagoya gym. There are two groups of four and one group of three in the women's event. The top two teams from each group, plus the two best third-place teams, will advance to the quarterfinals. All three third-place teams have two losses, meaning South Korea will at least squeeze into the quarterfinals as one of the top third-place teams even if it loses to Chinese Taipei on Tuesday. In Monday's game, South Korea outscored Mongolia 28-9 in the first quarter to set the tone early. Mongolia won the second half 42-37, but that was not nearly enough to overcome the early deficit. Captain Kang Lee-

An Hyeon-gi delivered South Korea its first wushu medal at the ongoing Asian Games with his bronze in the men's taijiquan and taijijian event Monday. An finished in third place with a total score of 19.429 points at Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall in Nagoya, central Japan. Liu Dewen of China won gold with 19.560 points and Sun Chia-hung of Chinese Taipei was the runner-up with 19.453 points. In both disciplines, athletes were judged on three categories: quality of movement, overall performance, degree of difficulty, with a maximum of 10 points total. An scored 9.713 points in taijiquan and picked up 9.716 points in taijijian. Taijiquan evaluates athletes on slow but controlled movements. Taijijian looks for athletes' technical precision and artistic performance with a double-edged sword.

The North Korean women's football team's "clocking out" after an 8-0 thrashing of Myanmar at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, on the night of Sept. 17 was unusually late. It was about 15 minutes after the Myanmar players had left the stadium before the door to the North Korean locker room finally opened. Inside, reporters caught sight of unmistakably youthful players bustling about as they stuffed snacks provided by the organizing committee into brown paper bags. Whether they knew they were being watched or not, the players appeared excited about their unexpected haul. But as soon as they approached the Korean reporters waiting in the mixed zone, their demeanor suddenly changed. With stern expressions and their eyes deliberately averted, they did not respond to reporters' requests to "say just a few words about the big win." Carrying bags of snacks in their hands, the players quickly walked out of the stadium. North Korea, which is making its first appearance at an Asian Games held in Japan, is keeping tight control over its athletes during the competition. According to an event official,

Yoon Ji-hwan won bronze in the men's 50-meter backstroke swimming event at the Asian Games on Monday, his first medal at the quadrennial event in his debut. Yoon, 20, clocked 24.54 seconds for bronze at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the Japanese capital. Xu Jiayu of China captured the gold medal with a new Asian Games record time of 24.04 seconds, beating his compatriot, Wang Zicheng, by 0.45 second. This was the fourth swimming medal for South Korea at this year's Asian Games.