Team Korea sees China as main rival

Korean table tennis player Seo Hyo-won prepares to return a serve at the 2014 World Table Tennis Championships in Toyko, Japan, in this April 28 file photo. Seo faces a challenge from Chinese athletes in her bid to win gold at the Incheon Asian Games, which will kick off Friday. / Yonhap

By Kwon Ji-youn

For Korea to be successful in the upcoming Incheon Asian Games, its athletes are going to have to fare well against their counterparts from China who seem to be their primary competition in their quest for gold medals in many events.

China, a sports powerhouse, has led the gold medal count in each Asiad since 1982, and to overcome that Chinese dominance Koreans will have to devise a variety of strategies.

Korean table tennis player Seo Hyo-won says she has studied Chinese players by reviewing videos of their past competitions as part of her training regimen.

“The Chinese have always performed at a high level, so they have set the bar for world-class table tennis,” Seo said in a recent interview. Of the 11 athletes preceding No.12-seeded Seo in the world rankings, eight are Chinese.

The Korean table tennis team longs to end its 12-year gold drought at this year’s Asiad, which opens on Sept. 19, after a humbling campaign at the 2010 Guangzhou Games where Team Korea settled for one silver and four bronze medals. China took home all seven gold medals.

To suddenly turn it around will be a huge challenge for the Korean team, as it has fared poorly in its most recent performances. The men’s team failed to make it to the semifinals of the World Table Tennis Championships for the seventh consecutive event in April, and the women’s team fell short of making the quarterfinals in the Tokyo event.

But Seo says she is ready for the challenge. “I’ve been training with my male teammates, so as long as I make it to the finals, I think I have a good shot at the gold,” Seo said.

Swimming sensation Park Tae-hwan has also set his sights on defeating China. Park and China’s first Olympic gold medalist Sun Yang will square off in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle events in Incheon.

Park, the 2008 Olympic champion, took home top honors in the 100m, 200m and 400m events at Guangzhou. Sun countered Park’s stellar performance at the 2012 London Olympics by winning the 400m and 1,500m with Park settling for two silvers.

This year, Park is considered the gold-medal favorite in the 200m, and Sun in the 1,500m. But the 400m appears to be a tossup, and is rapidly shaping up to be the highlight of the six-day swimming competition.

China is at the center of Asia’s dominance in badminton, and at the London Olympics it bagged all five gold medals. Team Korea won four at the 2002 Busan Asiad, but went home empty-handed at Doha in 2006.

Chinese women are also at the top of the badminton world rankings, with Li Xuerui, Wang Shixian and Wang Yihan being its most highly ranked stars. Top seed Li has defeated Korea’s Sung Ji-hyun a whopping seven times, but experts say Sung stands a chance for the Asiad gold should she focus on preserving and maintaining strength until the finals.

Korea’s Yang Hak-seon is a surefire front-runner in the vault event, but is looking to expand his dominance. The gymnast will vie for his first gold in the rings event, in which he specialized before switching to the vault.

But he faces a formidable challenge from Chen Yibing and Yan Mingyong, both of China. Chen, the champion of the 2006 and 2010 Asian Games, remains the man to beat, but Yang will also have to keep an eye out for China’s up-and-comers as the country is home to a handful of skilled gymnasts. Some of these athletes may compete in the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics.

Rhythmic gymnast Deng Senyue of China is considered Son Yeon-jae’s biggest rival. Deng triumphed over Korea’s Son at the world championships in Ukraine last year, but sustained an ankle injury that left her far behind Son at the Dundee World Cup in Sofia, Bulgaria in August.

Korean fencers are looking to build upon their victory at Guangzhou, where they landed seven Asiad golds, but China has always been a powerhouse in the sport, so Team Korea may be in for a fight for gold.