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(Asiad) Judokas sweep up three titles; teenager becomes first double gold medalist

All News 23:06 September 21, 2014

By Special Reporting Team

INCHEON, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- Chalk this one up for a major turnaround for South Korean judo.

Judokas for the host of this year's Asiad captured three gold medals and one silver medal on Sunday, a day after taking three bronze medals from the mat.

Kim Jae-bum won his second straight Asiad gold in the men's under-81 kilogram event, joined by Kim Seong-yeon in the women's under-70㎏ and Joung Da-woon in the women's under-63㎏ as the day's judo champs.

(Asiad) Judokas sweep up three titles; teenager becomes first double gold medalist - 2

From the shooting range, the 17-year-old Kim Cheong-yong became the host's first double gold medalist, taking both the individual and the team titles in the men's 10m air pistol event.

South Korea swept up two fencing gold medals, with Jeon Hee-sook winning the women's individual foil and Gu Bon-gil taking the men's sabre gold. Gu defeated his teammate Kim Jung-hwan for his second straight Asiad gold, in a third all-Korean final in fencing in two days.

Overall, South Korea captured seven gold medals on Sunday to reach 12 for the competition. The host has won 31 medals so far, with 10 silver and nine bronze medals. South Korea aims to win at least 90 gold medals to finish second behind China in the medal race for the fifth consecutive Asiad.

China, long the dominant force at the Asiads, kept pace with seven gold medals of its own Sunday, also bringing its gold medal tally to 12 through two days.

Japan rose to third place by snapping up five gold medals on Sunday to get to seven for the Asiad. Three of the gold medals on Sunday came from the swimming pool.

South Korea didn't get any gold from the pool, with the nation's favorite swimmer, Park Tae-hwan, coming up short in the men's 200m freestyle. He settled for bronze, behind Kosuke Hagino of Japan and Sun Yang of China.

Park's next individual race will be the 400m freestyle on Tuesday, and Hagino and Sun are once again expected to battle the South Korean for the gold.

Elsewhere, three world records fell in weightlifting alone.

North Korean weightlifter Kim Un-guk broke two world records on his way to victory in the men's 62㎏ event. Kim hoisted a total of 332㎏ to break his own previous world record by 5㎏, giving North Korea its second gold in Incheon.

Kim lifted 154㎏ in his snatch to break the previous mark by 1㎏. Shi Zhiyong of China had held the record since 2002.

With two gold medals in weightlifting, North Korea is in sixth place in the medals through Sunday.

Two records fell in the women's competition earlier Sunday. In the women's 53㎏ class, Hsu Shu Ching of Chinese Taipei won the gold with a world record total of 233㎏. In the clean and jerk, Kazakhstan's Zulfiya Chinshanlo set a world record with 132㎏.

Although Hsu had also lifted the same weight in the clean and jerk as her Kazakhstani counterpart, she was unable to register her name on the list of world-record lifters in the area as she weighed 0.15㎏ more than her rival.

In football, South Korea won final group matches in both the men's and women's football on Sunday to finish the group stage with perfect records. The men's team defeated Laos 2-0, while the women's team hammered Maldives 13-0.

Just two days in, the Asiad here continues to have issues outside the competitive arena.

The Asian Games cauldron, a symbol of the athletic event that is supposed to be kept lit during the 16-day run, temporarily went dark due to technical problems on Saturday night, organizing committee officials said Sunday.

The torch lost its flame at around 11:40 p.m. on Saturday after experiencing malfunctions in the cauldron that held the fire but was re-lit 10 minutes later, officials said.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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