Korea's gold-medal hopes span modern pentathlon to archery at Asian Games
Park Hee-yong, head coach of Korea's national sport climbing team, waves the Korean flag during a send-off ceremony for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian games at Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
Korea is expected to begin its gold-medal campaign at the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with the women's modern pentathlon on the first day of competition, an analysis showed Tuesday.
The quadrennial Asian sports event, to be held on Japanese soil for the first time in 32 years, will begin its official 16-day run on Saturday, with 469 gold medals in 43 sports up for grabs.
Korea will send more than 1,000 athletes and officials in 41 sports to the Asian Games, targeting up to 45 gold medals.
According to an analysis by Yonhap News Agency, Korea may expect its first gold medal from Seong Seung-min in the women's modern pentathlon on Sunday, the first day of competition.
Seong won the 2024 World Modern Pentathlon Championships to become the first Korean woman to win a world title in the event. At the Paris Summer Olympics later that year, she became the first Asian female pentathlete to win an Olympic medal.
Multiple gold medals are expected in swimming from Monday, with Kim Woo-min and Hwang Sun-woo leading Korea's medal hopes in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay and 200-meter freestyle.
Fencer Song Se-ra is eyeing two gold medals in the individual and team epee events from next Tuesday to Friday, while two-time reigning Olympic champion Oh Sang-uk is set to seek the same feat in the men's individual and team sabre events from next Wednesday to Saturday.
On next Friday, shooters and swimmers could add several gold medals to Korea's gold-medal tally in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event, men's 200-meter breaststroke and men's 400-meter freestyle.
The baseball team will play its final game on Sept. 27, seeking its fifth consecutive Asian Games gold medal, while the women's handball gold medal will also be decided on the same day.
Three gold medals could come from badminton on Sept. 29, with world champion An Se-young and the doubles team of Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee among Korea's top contenders.
In October, Korea will have further gold-medal opportunities in archery, judo, esports, taekwondo and sport climbing.