By Ken Marantz
OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 26, 2026: Korea’s women squandered a hefty lead but managed to hang on amid a furious Japan rally to join the men’s team as the Asian Games champion in basketball.
Lee Haeran scored a game-high 24 points and Kang Leeseul added 21 as Korea held off Japan for a dramatic 75-70 victory on Saturday before a raucous crowd of 7,089 at Aichi International Gymnasium.
With the victory, Korea proved its stunning semifinal victory over two-time defending champion China the previous day was not a fluke with its first Asian Games gold since 2014 and fifth overall.
“The more our minds were busy, the more mistakes we made,” Kang said. “And because the previous game had been very physically demanding for us, I felt we needed to play with more composure and keep a cool head. So I kept asking the players to slow things down.”
Japan, looking for its first Asian Games title in 28 years, fell behind big right from the opening tipoff and had to play catchup all game. They nearly made it all the way.
Korea, whose men’s team also defeated Japan in the gold-medal game, stormed out to a 27-15 lead in the first quarter that it stretched to 42-23 at halftime. Its biggest lead of the game came midway through the third quarter, when Kang sank a 3-pointer that made it 56-36.
But behind Haru Owaki, who scored 10 of her team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, Japan kept chipping away at the lead, much to the elation of the rejuvenated crowd.
Owaki’s putback from a rebound with :15 left cut Korea’s lead to two. But with Japan going to the fouling game, Kang sank a pair of free throws and Lee converted one of two as the Korean defense dug in during a frantic finish.
“We could actually have won by a much bigger margin, but they caught up with us,” Kang said. “Putting all of that aside, in the end we achieved this great result of winning the gold medal, so right now I’m extremely happy.”
Both Korea and Japan played at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin earlier this month, where they both went 1-2 in their group before losing in the play-in game for the quarterfinals.
While Japan’s Asian Games team was completely different, Korea’s lineup was the same, with the exception of sharp-shooter Park Ji Hyun, who has rejoined her WNBA team, the Los Angeles Sparks.
*In the bronze-medal match, China bounced back from its devastating semifinal loss to Korea by defeating Chinese Taipei 77-64, but even this one didn’t come easy.
Chen Mingling scored 20 points and teen giant Zhang Ziyu added 14 in just over 10 minutes of court time as the Chinese pulled away after the game went into halftime tied 36-36.
The 2.24-meter Zhang got China on track to victory when she sank four shots in the third quarter, which the Chinese opened with a 21-5 run to establish their biggest lead of the game at 57-41. After that, Chinese Taipei never got closer than 10.
“I just want to be able to do my part and contribute to the team,” the 19-year-old Zhang, who averaged 19.5 points in just over 13 minutes per game, said about her development as a player.
“I’m keen to work hard and learn more. I’ve put a lot of work into agility. I’m thankful for all the effort put into helping me become a better player. I have a lot to work on myself.”
