Nam Ji-sung and Park 의-sung secured at least a silver medal for South Korea in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games men’s doubles tennis tournament, defeating Taiwan’s He Tianrui and Hsu Yu-hsiou 2-1 (7-6, 2-6, 11-9) in the semifinals on Oct. 1 at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya, Japan, sportschosun.com reported.
Nam and Park Advance to First Final in 12 Years
The victory marks the first time a South Korean men’s doubles pair has reached an Asian Games final since Lim Yong-kyu and Chung Hyeon won the gold medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. Seeded second in the tournament, Nam and Park received a bye in the round of 32 before defeating Japan’s Fred Jay and Kokoro Isomura 2-1 in the round of 16, followed by a 2-0 win over Thailand’s Pruchya Isaro and Maximus Jones in the quarterfinals.
Semifinal Battle Extends to Match Tiebreak
The semifinal match lasted 93 minutes. After narrowly capturing the opening set in a tiebreak, Nam and Park dropped four consecutive games early in the second set to surrender a set-all tie. The decisive third set used a 10-point match tiebreak format. Trailing 5-6, South Korea won three consecutive points to take the lead, but Taiwan fought back to force a deuce. Following an end-change at 9-9, Nam and Park claimed the final two points to close out the match 11-9.
Nam and Park Await Gold Medal Opponents
Nam and Park will face the winners of the other semifinal match between China’s Zhang Fumian and Zhang Tianhui and Japan’s Yusuke Kusuhara and Shusuke Nakagawa in the gold medal match on Oct. 2. The exact start time for the final has not yet been announced.
South Korea’s Remaining Medal Hopes in Nagoya
South Korea entered the tennis competition targeting up to four gold medals, but early exits eliminated both singles fields. Kwon Soon-woo retired just 11 minutes into his third-round match due to a left knee injury. Ku Yeon-woo was eliminated in the second round of women’s singles, while Park So-hyun and Jung Bo-young withdrew from women’s doubles after Park fell ill with the flu. Additional early losses included Kwon and Hong Seong-chan in men’s doubles, Jang Su-jeong and Baek Da-yeon in women’s doubles, and two mixed doubles entries.
