South Korea Aims for Medals in Fencing, Swimming, and More at Asian Games

South Korea head into a pivotal Tuesday at the Asian Games in Japan with medals on the line in the pool, on the piste, at the shooting range and across emerging combat sports – plus a volleyball podium fight to close the day.

This is the kind of schedule that can tilt a nation’s campaign.

Fencing: Epee Queens Target a Repeat

All eyes in the morning turn to the women’s epee team, the defending Asian Games champions and standard-bearers of Korean fencing.

Song Se-ra leads the squad again, three years after helping deliver South Korea’s first women’s epee team gold at the Games in roughly two decades in Hangzhou. That title ended a long wait and reset expectations for the program. Song also owns an individual silver from those Games, underlining her status as the anchor of this group.

Now the task is clear: protect the crown. Another title would not just confirm dominance in the discipline, it would signal that Hangzhou was the start of an era, not a one-off surge.

Swimming: Relay Stars Go Back to Work

In the pool, the rhythm of South Korea’s meet has been set by a familiar pair.

Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Young-beom return after standing on the podium together in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, where they claimed bronze the previous day. The turnaround is quick, the stakes just as high. This time, they line up in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay, chasing a second medal of these Games.

The medley demands precision: four strokes, four specialists, no margin for error. Hwang and Kim arrive with momentum and the confidence that comes from already having delivered under pressure.

Sharing that workload is Kim Woo-min, another member of the bronze-winning 4×200-meter quartet. His day stretches beyond relay duty. He steps into the grueling 1,500-meter freestyle, a race that tests not only technique but resilience and race craft over every lap. One evening, two very different challenges.

Shooting: First Gold in Sight

At the shooting range, South Korea carry a different kind of weight.

Two bronze medals so far have kept the team on the scoreboard, but the country is still waiting for its first shooting gold of these Games. That responsibility now falls partly on the shoulders of Ban Hyo-jin and Park Ha-jun in the mixed team 10-meter air rifle.

Both arrive with form and credibility. Ban Hyo-jin took third in the individual women’s event, showing she can hold her nerve alone. Park Ha-jun helped secure bronze in the men’s team competition, proving he can deliver in a group setting. Put them together, and South Korea suddenly have a pairing capable of turning bronzes into something brighter.

The format leaves little room to recover from mistakes. One loose shot can swing a match. One perfect series can decide a title.

MMA Debut: New Stage, New Opportunity

On the mats, history is being written.

Modern mixed martial arts makes its Asian Games debut in Japan, opening a fresh chapter for the sport and for South Korea’s fighters. Choi Eun-seok enters the men’s under-71-kilogram category with a chance to add to an early medal haul in the discipline.

The benchmark has already been set. Lee Bo-mi claimed bronze in the women’s under-54-kilogram division, placing South Korea on the podium in this new arena at the first time of asking. Choi now fights with that platform beneath him and the prospect of pushing the country higher in the medal table for MMA.

It is a young sport in this context, but the stakes are already real.

Volleyball: Bronze or Bust Against Thailand

The day closes with a familiar regional rivalry on the volleyball court.

South Korea’s women’s team face Thailand in the bronze medal match, a fixture that carries both emotional and competitive weight. There is no safety net here. Win, and the squad leave with hardware and a measure of redemption. Lose, and they walk away empty-handed.

For a program used to measuring itself against the best in Asia, this match becomes a statement about where it stands right now.

Across fencing, swimming, shooting, MMA and volleyball, South Korea’s athletes step into Tuesday with a clear theme: podiums are within reach. The question is how many of those chances they can turn into medals before the lights go out in Japan.