South Korea continued its gold medal winning streak on the opening day of the Asian Games for the seventh consecutive day, led by roller skater Chung Byung-hee (Chungbuk Sports Federation).
Chung won the 10,000m excluded plus points (EP) roller skating speed event at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Qiantang Rollersports Centre in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, on Tuesday.
The event consists of 50 laps around a 200-metre track, with the top finishers on a given lap receiving points and the last finisher eliminated.
Chung scored 19 points to take gold ahead of Zhang Zhenhai (CHN), who had 14.
It is the first time in 13 years that a South Korean athlete has won this event since Son Geun-sung and Woo Hyo-sook in Guangzhou 2010.
With Chung Byung-hee’s gold, South Korea is in third place in the medal standings after 30 days with 27 gold, 29 silver and 53 bronze medals.
China, with 113 gold medals, is first, followed by Japan with 28 gold, 38 silver and 38 bronze.
Chung’s team-mate Choi In-ho finished third to claim bronze, while Yoo Garam (Anyang City Hall) added bronze in the women’s speed EP 10,000 metres.
The high-profile men’s basketball Korea-Japan and women’s football Korea-North Korea games were both lost.
In the women’s football quarter-final between South Korea and North Korea at the Wenzhou Sports Centre Stadium, North Korea won 4-1.
South Korea were outnumbered when Son Hwa-yeon (Hyundai Steel) was sent off in the 41st minute with the score tied 1-1, and conceded three goals in the second half to be eliminated.
This is the first time in 25 years that South Korean women’s football has failed to reach the top four at an Asian Games since finishing fifth in Bangkok in 1998.
The North Korean women’s national football team’s head-to-head record against the DPRK is also abysmal, with two draws and 11 defeats since their only win in August 2005.
The men’s basketball team lost 77-83 against Japan in their group game at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Gymnasium.
Japan had fielded a de facto second team for the tournament, and South Korea was expected to win, but the Japanese, who exploded for 17 three-pointers in each half, took the win.
Korea was pushed into the quarter-finals and will face Bahrain on 2 October. If they win, they will play Group A leader China for a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the men’s diving synchro 3m springboard final, the team of Woo Haram (Korea Sports Promotion Agency) and Lee Jae-kyung (Gwangju Metropolitan Sports Association) won the silver medal with a total of 393.00 points in the first to sixth period.
Uharam, the most decorated Korean athlete at the Asian Games, took her career medal tally to nine (four silver, five bronze).
Korea also won bronze medals in the mixed 10m air pistol event with Lee Won-ho (KB) and Kim Bo-mi (IBK), while Kwon Jae-duk (men’s under 66kg) and Jeong Jun-yong (men’s over 90kg) added bronze medals in the traditional Uzbek martial art of kurashi.
The sport has been part of the Asian Games programme since Jakarta-Palembang 2018 and this is the first time South Korea has won a kurashi medal.
North Korea added two more gold medals in weightlifting.
Ri Sung-gum in the women’s 49kg and Kang Hyon-kyong in the women’s 55kg stood at the top of the podium.
Ri Sung-gum lifted 92kg in the lift, 124kg in the snatch and 216kg in the total, surpassing the previous world records of 120kg and 215kg.
Kang Hyon-kyong also achieved world records with a 103kg vault, 130kg uneven bars and 233kg total.
North Korea swept the weightlifting gold medals on the day, with gymnast Ahn Chang Ok winning two. North Korea, which also has one gold medal in shooting, increased its tally to five.
The women’s badminton team, led by Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life), defeated Thailand 3-1 in the semi-finals to reach the final, where they will face China for gold on 1 October morning. 안전놀이터