The Republic of Korea continued its gold medal streak at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on the first day of the Chuseok holiday.
Men’s gymnastics veteran Kim Han-sol (Seoul Metropolitan Government) won the men’s floor exercise final with a score of 14.900 at the Huanglong Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Monday.
Kim’s victory over Zhang Bohng (CHN), who scored 14.333, was his second straight at the Games, following the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
Kim is the third Korean gymnast to win back-to-back Asian Games titles, joining Yeo Hong-cheol at Bangkok 1998 and Kim Soo-myeon at Guangzhou 2010.
“Coach Kim Dae-eun and I worked well together on the strategy of dominating the competition from the first routine,” said Kim, who won the first gold medal for the Korean gymnastics team at the Games.
In fencing, the world’s strongest men’s sabre team completed the feat of winning three consecutive Asian Games titles.
The men’s sabre team of Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon City Hall), Koo Bon-gil, Kim Jong-hwan (Korea National Sports Promotion Organization) and Kim Jun-ho (Hwaseong City Hall) defeated China 45-33 in the team final at the Hangzhou Electronics University Gymnasium.
This is the third consecutive gold medal for South Korea in the men’s sabre team event at the Asian Games, following Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
The team also shared the title at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Koo Bon-gil won his sixth Asian Games gold medal, tying him with Park Tae-hwan (swimming), Nam Hyun-hee (fencing), Seo Jung-gyun (equestrian), Yang Chang-hoon (archery) and Ryu Seo-yeon (bowling) for the most gold medals by a Korean athlete at a Summer Asian Games.
Oh Sang-wook, who won the individual title, won his second gold medal of the Games.
South Korea won its sixth gold medal in fencing, one of 12 at the Games, and its fourth consecutive overall title in the event, dating back to Guangzhou in 2010.
However, in the women’s foil team final, the Koreans lost to China 31-34 to finish as runners-up.
In the men’s 50-meter butterfly, Baek In-cheol (Busan Jung-gu Office) became the first Korean athlete to win an Asian Games title in the event.
Paik won the men’s 50-meter butterfly final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center in a Korean record time of 23.29 seconds.
The men’s 50-meter butterfly has been an Asian Games event since Doha 2006 and the previous South Korean best was a bronze medal by Yang Jeong-doo in Incheon in 2014.
Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Province) added another gold medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle in a meet record time of 7:46.03.
It was Kim’s second gold medal of the Games after winning the 800-meter freestyle relay.
With Baek’s and Kim’s wins, Korean swimming management has now won five gold medals, the most in a single Asian Games.
There were mixed results in esports and go.
In the League of Legends (LoL) quarterfinals, South Korea defeated China 2-0 to advance to the final.
South Korea will face Chinese Taipei in the final on Monday, with the Chinese team expected to be the favorite to win gold.
There was also a first-ever Asian Games gold medal in esports.
Kim Kwan-woo, a 44-year-old veteran, defeated Hsiang-Yu Lin (Chinese Taipei) 4-3 in the Street Fighter V final to win the gold medal.
With esports becoming an official part of the Asian Games, this is the first gold medal ever won by a Korean team in the sport.
On the other hand, 9-player Shin Hsin-seo, a gold medal favorite in Go, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by 9-player Hsiu Hao-hung (Chinese Taipei) in 278 moves with black.
It was an unexpected result, as it was the first time Shin had ever lost to a non-Chinese professional.
In the 3-4th place match, Xin Xin won the bronze medal with a black draw against Ryo Ichikiri (Japan) in 135 moves.
Xu Haohong, who defeated Shin, also won a “surprise gold medal” by defeating Kerze (CHN) in the final.
Meanwhile, North Korea swept the artistic gymnastics vault and uneven bars, with Ahn Chang-ok winning two gold medals on the day.
North Korea also won its first gold medal of the Games in the women’s 10-meter running target team event, giving it three gold medals in one day.
South Korea is second in the medal standings with 24 gold, 23 silver and 39 bronze medals through 28 days.
China leads the way with 90 gold medals, while third-place Japan has 18 golds and 30 silver and bronze medals.
North Korea won three golds, five silvers, and four bronzes, moving up to 10th place from 19th overall the previous day. 안전놀이터