Korean tennis star Kwon Soon-woo (Chungnam Sports Council) withdrew from the men's singles third round at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games due to a left knee injury. His exit means that all South Korean players in both men's and women's singles have been eliminated.
Kwon faced Uzbekistan's Kumoyun Sultanoov in the third round at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya on September 30. After falling behind 0-3 in the first set, he complained of pain in his left knee and declared his withdrawal just 11 minutes into the match.
The tight match schedule, exacerbated by inclement weather, likely contributed to his injury. The day before, on September 29, Kwon had played in the men's singles second round and then partnered with Hong Seong-chan (Dangjin City Hall) in the men's doubles second round. Due to rain delays, the doubles match concluded after midnight on September 30.
Kwon and Hong lost to Japan's Yusuke Kusuhara and Sunsuke Nakagawa with a set score of 1-2, resulting in their elimination.
Kwon, who received the fourth seed in singles, aimed to overcome his previous disappointment at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, where he lost in the second round to Kasidit Samrej of Thailand, then ranked 636th in the world.
Having won three titles at ATP Challenger events during his military service this year, Kwon continued his strong momentum after being discharged in July, winning both singles matches against India in the Davis Cup and leading South Korea to its first-ever finals appearance. However, an unexpected injury has cut his Asian Games campaign short.
Prior to Kwon's withdrawal, Hong Seong-chan had already exited in the second round of men's singles. In women's singles, Gu Yeon-woo (CJ CheilJedang) and Baek Da-yeon (NH Nonghyup Bank) also finished their tournaments in the second round.
Additionally, the women's doubles team of Park So-hyun (Gangwon Province) and Jeong Bo-young (Andong City Hall) withdrew before their scheduled second-round match due to Park's flu symptoms.
The South Korean tennis team had set a goal of winning up to four of the five gold medals available at this tournament, but with the elimination of all singles players and the series of withdrawals, achieving that goal has become impossible.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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