National Sports Festival opens in Jeju with 30,000 participants

The 107th National Sports Festival, South Korea's largest multi-sport competition, opened Friday in Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and runs through Wednesday. National team athletes who competed at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are joining in large numbers, keeping the momentum from the regional games alive.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and hosted by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, the festival draws about 30,000 participants — roughly 20,000 athletes and 10,000 officials. Competitors are divided into under-18, university, open and overseas Korean categories, contesting 49 official sports plus jiu-jitsu as a demonstration event, for a total of 50 disciplines. Venues span 74 facilities across Jeju, including Gangchanghak General Stadium.

Among the headline names are fencer Oh Sang-uk and archer Kim Woo-jin, both standouts at the Asian Games. Asian Games judo silver medalist Lee Hyeon-ji will carry the final torch at the opening ceremony, held Friday evening at Jeju World Cup Stadium. Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choi Hwi-yeong will officially declare the games open.

Seoul is sending a delegation of 2,156 people — 1,480 athletes and 676 officials — across all 50 sports. The athlete contingent comprises 617 high school students, 168 university students and 695 open-division competitors.

Several Seoul-affiliated Asian Games medalists are also competing. Sport climbers Seo Chae-hyeon (one gold, one bronze), Lee Do-hyeon (one silver, one bronze) and Jeong Ji-min (one bronze) headline the list, joined by fencers Jeon Ha-yeong (one gold), Park Ji-hee (two silvers) and Shim So-eun (one silver). Cyclists Park Do-yeong, Min Gyeong-ho and Lee Jin-gu, women's handball players Woo Bit-na, Jeong Jin-hee and Jo Eun-bin, and women's footballers Kim Min-ji and Kang Tae-gyeong round out the Seoul contingent.

In three-cushion carom billiards, world No. 1 Cho Myung-woo will represent Seoul, squaring off against other top-ranked national team players including Kim Haeng-jik and Heo Jeong-han.

Other athletes to watch include Han Ju-yeong, who won three swimming titles at last year's National Sports Festival; javelin thrower Jeong Jun-seok of Korea National Sport University; and Ko Seung-woo of Ogeum High School, who swept three swimming golds at last year's Asian Youth Games in Bahrain.

Seoul has set a target of winning the overall title in nine sports — including swimming, mountaineering and rugby — and accumulating 57,000 aggregate points. In preliminary competitions held earlier across table tennis, cycling, gymnastics and badminton, the Seoul delegation collected 27 medals: six gold, 14 silver and seven bronze.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is scheduled to attend the opening ceremony to encourage the delegation. "We will provide careful support throughout the competition so athletes can perform at their best, and we will continue to strengthen Seoul's sporting competitiveness by nurturing talented athletes and creating a stable training environment," Oh said.