(Asiad) Young swimmer soars to gold; baseball team opens title quest with win
NAGOYA/TOKYO, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- Swimmers did some heavy lifting for South Korea in the medal competition at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday, as they collected five medals, including the first gold from the pool.
Kim Young-beom struck gold in the men's 50-meter freestyle final at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, serving as the swimming host during the Asiad. The 20-year-old set an Asian Games record time of 21.66 seconds, improving his own record set earlier Monday during the heats by 0.05 second.
Kim Young-beom of South Korea celebrates after winning gold in the men's 50-meter freestyle swimming event at the Asian Games at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo on Sept. 21, 2026. (Yonhap)
Ji Yu-chan, the 2023 Asiad champion and the former Asian Games record holder, got the bronze this time in 21.94 seconds.
Earlier in the day, South Korea won bronze medals in both the men's and women's 50m backstroke events -- Yoon Ji-hwan in the former and Kim Seung-won in the latter. Both are competing in their first Asian Games.
The men's 4x200m freestyle relay team also won bronze, unable to repeat as the Asian Games champions. The quartet of Kim Jun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sun-woo finished in 7:06.76, 6.59 seconds behind the champion China, which broke its own Asian record with 7:00.17.
Kim Young-beom's gold was the only one for South Korea on Monday. The country now has five gold medals after two days, good for third place behind China (23 gold medals) and Japan (eight).
Players for South Korea (in red) and North Korea high-five each other after playing to a 1-1 draw in their Group F match in the women's football tournament at the Asian Games at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Fukuroi, Japan, on Sept. 21, 2026. (Yonhap)
Also on Monday, an inter-Korean showdown in women's football ended in a 1-1 draw.
Chae Un-yong put North Korea on the board at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in Fukuroi, east of Nagoya, in the 35th minute, and Yun Su-jeong had the equalizer for South Korea a minute into the second half.
Both teams had already secured their quarterfinal berths before Monday's showdown, and they battled for the top seed in Group F.
They both finished with seven points, but North Korea won the group thanks to their +18 to +11 edge in goal difference.
Earlier Monday, Lee Bo-mi won bronze in the women's modern -54kg event in the mixed martial arts, which made its Asian Games debut here.
Lee lost in the semifinals to Diana Pogosian of Bahrain 3-0. Since there are no bronze medal bouts, Lee was awarded a bronze medal following her loss.
South Korean starter Gwak Been pitches against Chinese Taipei during the teams' Group B game at the Asian Games at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Baseball Stadium in Okazaki, Japan, on Sept. 21, 2026. (Yonhap)
In shooting, South Korea picked up bronze in the men's 10-meter air rifle team event.
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.
South Korea won its first medal in wushu, where An Hyeon-gi took bronze in the men's taijiquan and taijijian event with 19.429 points out of a possible 20.
South Korea also collected its third medal in soft tennis in Nagoya, with Kim Yeon-hwa and Park Jae-kyu winning bronze in the mixed doubles.
They lost to Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma of Japan 5-1 in the best-of-nine match in the semifinals. With no bronze medal match, all semifinal losers in soft tennis receive bronze medals.
The baseball team defeated Chinese Taipei 5-0 to open its quest for a fifth consecutive gold medal, with starter Gwak Been tossing six no-hit innings and striking out 10.
The women's volleyball team, however, lost to Japan in straight sets in the semifinals and will take on Thailand in the bronze medal contest Tuesday.
Shin Min-ki, Park Ha-jun and Gwon Hyeop-jun of South Korea (L to R) pose with their bronze medals won in the men's 10-meter air rifle shooting team event at the Asian Games at Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, Japan, on Sept. 21, 2026. (Yonhap)
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