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(Universiade) Largest Summer Universiade to kick off Friday

All News 14:53 July 01, 2015

By Yoo Jee-ho

GWANGJU, July 1 (Yonhap) -- The 2015 Summer Universiade will kick off in the southern South Korean city of Gwangju on Friday as the largest in the event's 56-year history.

Gwangju, located some 330 kilometers south of Seoul, and its satellite towns in the Jeolla region will stage the multisport competition until July 14.

The Universiade, organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), is open to athletes between the ages of 17 and 28 who are attending university or graduate school, or who have graduated in the past 12 months.

Gwangju is the third South Korean host of the Universiade. Muju and Jeonju, both in North Jeolla Province, co-hosted the winter edition in 1997 and Daegu held the summer event in 2003.

Gwangju's organizing committee claimed this year's competition will be the largest in history. As of June 22, 12,737 athletes and officials from 145 nations had registered, surpassing 11,759 who took part in the 2012 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia.

The host country contributed to that end. South Korea is sending its largest Universiade delegation ever with 516 athletes and officials in all 21 sports.

The stated goal is to grab at least 25 gold medals to finish inside the top three in the medal standings. The country's all-time record for gold medals at a Universiade is 28, from the 2011 summer competition in Shenzen, China.

South Korea's medal aspirations will rest on the shoulders of former Olympic champions, especially ones with ties to the Jeolla region.
Badminton star Lee Yong-dae, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in mixed doubles, will be competing in his hometown of Hwasun, South Jeolla Province, one of the sub-host cities near Gwangju.

Gymnast Yang Hak-seon, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the men's vault, is a native son of Gwangju. The two-time world champ is seeking personal redemption after settling for silver at last year's Asian Games in Incheon.

Earlier this week, Yang admitted he'd not been able to train for three weeks after suffering a hamstring injury.

Archer Ki Bo-bae attended college in Gwangju. She won two gold medals at the 2012 Olympics but failed to make it past the Asian Games national team trials in 2014.

Ki returned with a vengeance this year and finished in first place at the national team trials, brightening her prospects for both the Universiade and next year's Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Though she doesn't yet have an Olympic medal to her credit, rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae will still be one of the biggest attractions at the Universiade. The 2014 Asian Games champ in the individual all-around will compete at her second Universiade. Two years ago in Kazan, Russia, Son earned silver in ball while finishing off the podium in ribbon, clubs and all-around.

Son may have a clearer path to the top of the podium after Margarita Mamun, the world No. 1 from Russia, withdrew from the competition because of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) scare.

Another medal prospect is Chung Hyeon in men's tennis. He is the top-ranked male player from South Korea at No. 79, and won the gold medal in the doubles at last year's Asian Games. He's coming off a tough, five-set loss in the first round of Wimbledon to Pierre-Hughes Herbert of France.

Chung and others will be hoping to follow other South Koreans who went on to win Olympic medals after excelling at Universiades.

Marathon hero Hwang Young-cho was a virtual unknown before he won the gold medal at the 1991 Universiade. A year later, Hwang captured the gold at the Barcelona Summer Games. Hwang further cemented his legacy with a gold at the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima, Japan.

Judo's Choi Min-ho was a surprise gold medalist at the 2008 Olympics; nine years earlier in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Choi won a team gold and an individual silver at the Universiade.

Both Lee Won-hee in men's judo and Park Sung-hyun in women's archery won gold medals at the 2003 Universiade and then captured gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

By sports, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) expects five gold medals each from archery, taekwondo and judo, and four each from shooting and badminton.

North Korea had earlier said it would send athletes to eight events but pulled out earlier this month, citing political reasons. North Korea withdrew in protest of the opening of the Seoul office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The field office, which opened last week, is charged with monitoring and documenting human rights in North Korea.

North Korea has long been labeled one of the world's worst human rights violators, but it has often bristled at such criticism, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.

Despite the boycott, Gwangju organizers are holding out hope that North Korea will do an about-face at the last minute. When North Korea came to the last Universiade held in South Korea in 2003, it announced its decision to participate two days before the opening ceremony.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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