13 Seoul City Hall Para-Athletes Set Their Sights on Medals at the Asian Para Games

[Financial News] Seoul City Hall para-athletes, who won five medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, will once again compete for medals on the international stage. This time, they will take part in the Asian Para Games, which will be held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, Japan.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 12th that a total of 15 people—13 athletes and two coaches from Seoul City Hall’s workplace sports team—will participate as members of South Korea’s national team in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games, to be held from the 18th to the 24th.
The seven sports are table tennis, goalball, boccia, swimming, archery, weightlifting and athletics. Athletes with experience winning medals at international competitions and those who have steadily honed their skills will compete together against athletes from across Asia.
In table tennis, four athletes—Park Jin-cheol, Kim Gyeong-hyeon, Kim Ki-tae and Jeong Yeong-a—will vie for medals. In goalball, Kim Hui-jin, Sim Seon-hwa and Choi Eom-ji will form the backbone of the women’s national team under coach Jeong Ji-young.
Choi Ye-jin will compete in boccia, while swimmers Yeom Jun-du and Jang Jong-yun will aim for personal bests and medals. Park Hong-jo in archery, Kim Hyeong-hui in weightlifting and Kim Beom-jin in athletics will also compete for South Korea.
The Seoul City Hall team has also consistently achieved strong results at major international competitions. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, its table tennis players won five medals in total: one gold, one silver and three bronze.
They also won six medals at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Para Games: two gold, one silver and three bronze. In table tennis, they won one gold and one bronze, while in archery they took one gold and one silver. Weightlifting and goalball also added bronze medals.
These achievements are supported by the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s workplace sports teams for athletes with disabilities. Currently, 45 people are active across eight teams in eight sports. The city supports the athletes so they can train in a stable environment and compete in domestic and international events.
The athletes’ contributions extend beyond the competition venue. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also runs a talent-sharing program in which elite athletes directly share their skills and experience with residents. This year, 30 talent-sharing events offered 457 residents sport-specific experiences and coaching in athletic skills.
The city plans to continue developing elite athletes with disabilities while expanding opportunities for people to participate in recreational sports.
Jo Seong-ho, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Tourism and Sports Bureau, said, “I hope the Seoul City Hall athletes representing South Korea at the Asian Para Games will showcase the skills they have honed and achieve strong results,” adding, “We will support the athletes so they can train in a stable environment and expand opportunities to share the value of sports with residents.”
[email protected] Lee Seol-young Reporter