South Korea's men's basketball team won the Asian Games title for the first time in 12 years, restoring its standing as a dominant force in Asian basketball. Competing amid a sweeping generational turnover, the team played faster and with more variety on its way to the gold medal.
At the center of the victory were the three players who now represent both the present and future of Korean basketball: Lee Hyun-jung, 26, of the Portland Trail Blazers; Lee Jung-hyun, 27, of the Goyang Sono; and Lee Woo-seok, 27, of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps.
The squad, led by Nikolajs Mazurs of Latvia in the program's first appointment of a foreign head coach, defeated Japan 67-57 in the men's basketball final of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya on the 20th.
The win gave South Korea its fifth Asian Games gold in the sport, after 1970, 1982, 2002 and 2014, and its first since the 2014 Incheon Games. It also completed a 12-year pattern of golds in Busan (2002), Incheon (2014) and now Aichi-Nagoya (2026). The team set another mark as well: its first Asian Games basketball gold won outside the country since the 1982 Games in New Delhi, 44 years ago.
The path to gold was a reversal of expectations. The team lost both of its exhibition matches against Japan during the Liberation Day holiday period, drawing widespread doubts. On the day of the final, a bus scheduled to take the players to a practice venue never arrived, leaving them to enter the game without a proper workout.
The team overcame all of it through performance. Japan was effectively fielding a second-tier roster, without NBA players Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe, but had shown considerable strength by routing China in the semifinals.
South Korea was overpowering throughout the tournament. The decisive weapon was the explosive chemistry generated by Lee Hyun-jung, Lee Jung-hyun and Lee Woo-seok.
The brightest element was the outside shooting of Lee Hyun-jung, the team's ace. Releasing the ball from a high point with a quick, precise touch, he tore apart Japan's perimeter defense. He averaged 23.4 points over five games through the semifinals and delivered a game-high 27 points with 18 rebounds in the final.
Lee Hyun-jung also set an unusual record, becoming an Asian Games gold medalist alongside his mother, Sung Jung-ah, who won gold at the 1990 Beijing Games.
Lee Jung-hyun, who orchestrated the game with 14 points and seven assists, was equally impressive. He opened up the offense with composed playmaking despite heavy defensive pressure. His command of tempo and sharp passing repeatedly exposed gaps in Japan's defense.
Lee Woo-seok also stood out, showing versatility on both ends and closing out the win. With tireless conditioning and a willingness to take on the unglamorous work, he raised the team's overall level and was an unsung contributor to the title.
The system basketball built by Mazurs also deserves attention. He coached the team so that when one player struggled, another filled the gap almost seamlessly, keeping the performance free of weak spots.
In the men's 100-meter freestyle held in Tokyo, sprint prospect Kim Young-beom took silver, finishing just 0.04 seconds behind winner Pan Zhanle of China. Kim clocked 47.65 seconds to Pan's 47.61. Hwang Sun-woo, South Korea's leading swimmer, took bronze in 47.79. Hwang will seek a second consecutive title in the men's 800-meter freestyle relay on the 21st and will compete in the 200-meter freestyle, his main event, on the 23rd.
