(Asian Games) Fencers, cyclists come through, archers falter for S. Korea

By Yoo Jee-ho

JAKARTA, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Of the 65 gold medals South Korea was trying to win at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia, fencing, archery and taekwondo were projected to bring home more than a third of them.

As South Korea fell short of its goal with 49 gold medals, athletes in these three sports submitted mixed results.

Fencing was held during the first week of the event with 12 gold medals at stake, and South Korea won half a dozen gold medals. Though it fell two shy of its target, South Korea still led all countries in gold medals, three ahead of China. It was also the only nation to win a medal in every event.

In taekwondo, there were 14 gold medals up for grabs -- 10 in "kyorugi," or sparring, and four in poomsae, a demonstration of attacking and defensive moves. South Korea was bidding for a sweep of all poomsae titles, plus six gold medals from sparring.

But the country got half of the poomsae gold medals and only took three from kyorugi.

Much like in taekwondo, South Korea has dominated archery for decades. But its dream of winning all eight archery gold medals in Jakarta was shattered early, as Chang Hye-jin, world No. 1 and two-time Olympic champion in women's recurve, was knocked out of the quarterfinals in the individual event, while her teammate Kang Chae-young lost in the semifinals.

This set up the first Asiad women's individual recurve final without a South Korean.

South Korea ended up taking four gold medals to top the medal table, but head coach Kim Seong-hoon felt compelled to apologize at a press conference for failing to live up to people's expectations.

South Korean cyclists had nothing to apologize for: in road and track events, they claimed six gold medals and 13 medals overall.

Na Ah-reum pulled off a historic double with her gold medals in the individual road race and the individual time trial, becoming the first rider, male or female, to win those two races at a single Asiad. Na then picked up two more gold medals on the track with the team pursuit and madison titles. That made Na the first South Korean cyclist to win four gold medals at one Asiad.

Also during the Asian Games, some of the country's most famous athletes shone in major sports,

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min captained South Korea to a 2-1 victory over Japan in extra time, giving the country its second straight men's football gold medal.

Son assisted on the team's first of two goals in extra time, scored by Lee Seung-woo. Over the course of the tournament, Son evolved into a spiritual leader for a young team that struggled to find its footing early on.

Baseball has been South Korea's most popular sport for years, and stars from the top domestic league came through in the clutch for the country's third straight gold.

Yang Hyeon-jong, the 2017 MVP in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), pitched six shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Japan in the gold medal game. Yang only allowed one bloop single and struck out six.

At the plate, cleanup Park Byung-ho, one of the KBO's most feared sluggers, launched a solo home run in that game. He closed out the tournament by homering in each of his final four games and posted a mind-boggling .917 slugging percentage.

The men's volleyball team exceeded pre-Asiad expectations by reaching the final, where it lost to Iran to take silver. It was South Korea's best result in men's volleyball in a dozen years.

The women's team won the bronze medal by beating its nemesis Japan. The semifinal loss to upstart Thailand stung, but South Korea was able to avenge a straight-set loss to Japan at the FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League in June.

Though the medal didn't count toward South Korea's tally, the unified Korean women's basketball team won silver behind China. The team of nine South Koreans and three North Koreans hung tough against the favored opponent before running out of steam in the fourth quarter.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)