SEOUL — South Korea’s men’s handball team is heading into the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with an ambitious target: reclaim the Asian Games gold medal for the first time in 16 years.
At a media event at the Jincheon National Training Center on September 9, head coach Cho Young-shin and his players made it clear that simply reaching the semifinals is not enough. The target is gold.
The confidence comes after a difficult period for Korean men’s handball.
At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, South Korea failed to reach the semifinals for the first time in its Asian Games history and finished joint fifth. The team also failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Now, the team believes it has the balance, depth and attacking options to mount a serious comeback.
The Middle East remains the biggest obstacle
South Korea will have to overcome a formidable group of Middle Eastern opponents.
The men’s tournament features nine teams, divided into two groups. South Korea is in Group B with Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran and Kazakhstan, while Group A contains defending champion Qatar, host Japan, China and Hong Kong China.
Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait are particularly important to the title race.
Qatar has dominated recent Asian Games handball, winning the last three editions. Bahrain, meanwhile, won the 2026 Asian Men’s Championship, ending Qatar’s run of six consecutive continental titles.
That makes South Korea’s challenge considerably tougher than its medal ambitions might suggest.
But Korea already knows it can beat Qatar
There is one result giving the Korean camp legitimate confidence.
At the Asian Men’s Championship in Kuwait in January, South Korea defeated Qatar 32-31 in the group stage.
Qatar went on to remain one of Asia’s dominant teams, but the Korean victory demonstrated that the gap between the traditional East Asian power and the Middle Eastern giants may not be as large as recent tournament results suggest.
That result has become an important psychological boost heading into the Asian Games.
Korea’s answer: speed, defense and teamwork
South Korea does not expect to match the Middle Eastern teams simply through physical size.
Instead, coach Cho has emphasized the traditional strengths of Korean handball: organization, defensive coordination, stamina and rapid transitions.
Cho acknowledged that Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait possess exceptional physical attributes, individual skill and speed. His plan is to counter those advantages with organized team play and varied defensive schemes.
That could be crucial in a tournament where games can turn quickly through fast breaks and defensive pressure.
Three attacking weapons to watch
South Korea also arrives with significant firepower.
Lee Yo-seop, Kim Jin-young and Park Kwang-soon are among the team’s principal attacking players.
Kim scored 40 goals at January’s Asian Championship, finishing joint fifth among the tournament’s leading scorers. Lee was the 2025-26 H League regular-season MVP and leading scorer, while Park brings extensive experience and physical power to the attack.
The three players also have Asian Games experience, having appeared at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.
That combination of experience and current form is one reason the Korean team believes this could be its best opportunity in years.
Depth could become Korea’s secret weapon
One of the team’s biggest strengths may not be a single superstar.
Cho has pointed to the relatively small gap in ability among his court players. With a deep squad capable of rotating without dramatically changing the team’s level, South Korea hopes to maintain intensity throughout matches.
That depth could become particularly valuable against physically demanding opponents.
Fast-paced handball requires constant movement and rapid transitions, making fresh legs and defensive concentration increasingly important as matches progress.
A chance to rewrite the Hangzhou story
The upcoming tournament represents more than another medal opportunity.
South Korea’s men’s program has a proud Asian Games history, winning six men’s handball gold medals, including five consecutive titles from 1986 through 2002. Its most recent championship came at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
The fifth-place finish at Hangzhou therefore represented a major setback.
The 2026 tournament gives the team an opportunity to reverse that decline.
The gold-medal road starts in Japan
The men’s handball tournament at the 20th Asian Games will be held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to September 29, with nine men’s teams participating.
South Korea enters the competition knowing that the path to gold will likely run through one or more of Asia’s Middle Eastern powerhouses.
But the mood around the Korean team is markedly different from three years ago.
There is a stronger sense of confidence, a deeper attacking unit and the memory of a recent victory over Qatar.
The challenge is enormous.
But for a Korean team chasing its first Asian Games men’s handball gold since 2010, the message from camp is equally clear: this time, anything short of a serious title challenge will not be enough.
WWC ONE MEDIA G.A
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