Team Korea’s young guns set sights on Asian Games glory

The 2026 Asian Games, kicking off Saturday, will bring many of South Korea’s biggest sporting names to Japan, but some of the delegation’s most exciting athletes are still making a name for themselves.

Park Jun-soon arrived in the Korea Baseball Organization League with plenty of hype and wasted little time showing why.

Selected sixth overall by the Doosan Bears in the 2025 KBO draft, the 20-year-old played 91 games as a rookie and impressed both at the plate and in the field. His debut later established him as one of the key young players in Doosan’s future.

Park has taken a major step forward in his second season.

Through Aug. 11, Park was batting .332 with 16 home runs — four times his total as a rookie. His slugging percentage had also jumped from .379 to .588, showing that he has added power without sacrificing his ability to make consistent contact.

Now part of South Korea's national team at the Asian Games, the young player will have a chance to help the country defend its title and claim a fifth consecutive gold medal. South Korea has won the title at every edition since Guangzhou in 2010, following up with golds in Incheon in 2014, Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 and Hangzhou in 2023.

A gold medal will exempt Park and other young players from the country’s mandatory military service, allowing them to pursue their careers with minimal interruption.

Manager Ryu Ji-hyun’s 24-man roster boasts 21 players who are 25 or younger, while pitcher Gwak Been and infielders Moon Bo-gyeong and Roh Si-hwan take the three wild-card spots. Former KBO MVP Kim Do-yeong is expected to lead the offense, while Gwak, one of the KBO’s top starting pitchers, is set to anchor the rotation. Korea will open its campaign against Chinese Taipei on Monday before facing Hong Kong and Thailand on Tuesday and Sept. 23, respectively.

South Korea is known for producing Olympic and world champions in archery, fencing and taekwondo. Shot put is another story.

Park Si-hoon hopes to change that.

The 19-year-old, nicknamed the “Korean Thor” for his 191-centimeter height and 120-kilogram weight, is enjoying a breakout year.

In May, Park won the Asian U20 title with a 20.65-meter throw using the 6-kilogram junior shot, breaking a continental record that had stood for 15 years. Three months later, he took silver at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

His 20.31-meter throw left him just 4 centimeters behind Brazil’s Alessandro Borges — the winner at the 2026 World U20 Championships — and made him the first Korean male shot putter to win a medal at the competition. He also matched Korea’s best finish at the U20 championships and delivered the country’s strongest result in a field event.

Park, however, faces a much tougher test in Japan, where he will use the heavier 7.26-kilogram senior shot and compete against older, more experienced athletes.

Earning a place on Korea’s women’s table tennis team is difficult at any age. Park Ga-hyeon did it while still a junior.

The 18-year-old claimed the final spot on the Asian Games roster by winning the second national trials in May. She beat Yoo Ye-rin and Yoo Si-woo in straight games before defeating Lee Da-eun 3-1 in the final.

Park will join Shin Yu-bin, Lee Eun-hye, Joo Cheon-hui and Kim Na-yeong on a squad that pairs seasoned international competitors with some of the country’s most promising young players.

Before qualifying for the Asian Games, she represented Korea at the World Table Tennis Championships in London in April.

At just 14, Lee Ro-un will be the youngest athlete on Team Korea’s Asian Games roster.

The skateboarder will compete in the men’s park event, performing tricks across the ramps, curves and steep walls of a bowl-shaped course. Each run is scored on difficulty, speed, height, variety and execution.

His age might stand out in most sports, but not in skateboarding, where teenage competitors are increasingly common, and balance, flexibility and fearlessness can matter more than experience.

Lee follows Moon Kang-ho, who competed at the Hangzhou Asian Games at just 12, as one of the youngest athletes in the Korean delegation.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games will give Lee his first taste of competition on one of Asia’s biggest sporting stages. They will also pit him against some of the continent’s best skateboarders, including those from host nation Japan, a global powerhouse in the sport.

junheee@heraldcorp.com

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