S. Korea beats Hong Kong to begin women's handball competition

Inazawa, Japan — On Saturday, South Korea's women's handball team made a strong start to their tournament at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Coach Lee Kye-chung led the team to a decisive victory over Hong Kong, defeating the Hong Kong squad 48-16 at the Entrio venue in Inazawa, located north-west of Nagoya, Japan. South Korea secured an early lead, scoring 5-2 in the opening stages and then executing an impressive 11-2 run to dominate the remainder of the match.

Lee Won-jung was the stand-out performer, netting nine goals, while teammate Jeon Ji-yeon added eight more. A dozen South Korean players each scored at least one goal during the game.

It's worth noting that this year's handball tournament will not feature a knockout stage. Instead, the top three teams among the seven teams participating after round-robin play will be awarded medals. South Korea will face Kazakhstan in their next match on Sunday, Uzbekistan on Wednesday, China on Friday, Vietnam on the following Saturday, and Japan on September 27. Given the tournament's format, a win against Japan could very well secure South Korea the gold medal.

South Korea has claimed gold medals in both 2014 and 2018. However, they suffered a loss to Japan in the final of the 2023 competition. During the opening ceremony, both teams' anthems were not played, adding to the unusual circumstances of the event. The organizers also had to deal with an anthem blunder.