By Baek Byung-yeul
South Korea's gold medal drought continued for three straight days at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics as strong medal contenders in badminton were eliminated in the early rounds Monday.
The world No. 1 men's team of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong suffered a shocking upset after losing to the Malaysian duo of Goh V. Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 21-19) in the quarters.
Prior to the Lee-Yoo defeat, world No. 3 men's duo Kim Sa-rang and Kim Gi-jung also lost to the world No. 4 Chinese duo Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan 2-1 (11-21, 21-18, 24-22).
In the women's doubles, the world No. 9 South Korean's Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee were knocked out in the quarterfinals 2-1 (28-26, 18-21, 21-15) by the world No. 6 Danish team of Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl.
The only surviving South Korean pair was female duo Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan who beat Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 2-1 (21-13, 20-22, 21-14), also in the quarterfinals. The South Korean duo has a semifinal match against the Japanese Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi, Tuesday. In the singles, Son Wan-ho and Sung Ji-hyun advanced to the men and women's quarterfinals.
The South Korean men's table tennis team, who won bronze at the 2008 Games and silver at the 2012 Games, had a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Chinese team in the semifinals. The team will challenge for the bronze against Germany, today.
In the men's cycling omnium points race, South Korean rider Park Sang-hoon couldn't finish as the 23-year-old was involved in a huge crash that resulted in him being taken to hospital.
However, Park avoided serious injury. Park is an up-and-coming rider, winning an individual pursuit title at last year's Asian Cycling Championships. In the omnium, meaning "all" in Latin, riders compete in six disciplines comprised of a flying lat time trial; points race; elimination race; individual pursuit; scratch race; and time trial. The rider who accumulates the highest points in the end is the winner.
After failing to add a gold medal for three straight days, South Korea ranks 10th in the gold medal standings with six gold, three silver and five bronze, following No. 8 Japan and No. 9 Australia.
The United States is cruising in the standings, being ranked first with 26 gold, 23 silver and 26 bronze, followed by Britain with 16 gold, 17 silver and eight bronze and China with 15 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze.
Having another gold-less day, it seems the chances are slim for South Korea to accomplish its goal of claiming at least 10 gold for a top 10 Rio finish. The women's golf and taekwondo are events that South Korean fans are anchoring their last hopes for gold medals.
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The world No. 1 men's team of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong suffered a shocking upset after losing to the Malaysian duo of Goh V. Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 2-1 (17-21, 21-18, 21-19) in the quarters.
Prior to the Lee-Yoo defeat, world No. 3 men's duo Kim Sa-rang and Kim Gi-jung also lost to the world No. 4 Chinese duo Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan 2-1 (11-21, 21-18, 24-22).
In the women's doubles, the world No. 9 South Korean's Chang Ye-na and Lee So-hee were knocked out in the quarterfinals 2-1 (28-26, 18-21, 21-15) by the world No. 6 Danish team of Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl.
The only surviving South Korean pair was female duo Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan who beat Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of the Netherlands 2-1 (21-13, 20-22, 21-14), also in the quarterfinals. The South Korean duo has a semifinal match against the Japanese Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi, Tuesday. In the singles, Son Wan-ho and Sung Ji-hyun advanced to the men and women's quarterfinals.
The South Korean men's table tennis team, who won bronze at the 2008 Games and silver at the 2012 Games, had a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the Chinese team in the semifinals. The team will challenge for the bronze against Germany, today.
In the men's cycling omnium points race, South Korean rider Park Sang-hoon couldn't finish as the 23-year-old was involved in a huge crash that resulted in him being taken to hospital.
However, Park avoided serious injury. Park is an up-and-coming rider, winning an individual pursuit title at last year's Asian Cycling Championships. In the omnium, meaning "all" in Latin, riders compete in six disciplines comprised of a flying lat time trial; points race; elimination race; individual pursuit; scratch race; and time trial. The rider who accumulates the highest points in the end is the winner.
After failing to add a gold medal for three straight days, South Korea ranks 10th in the gold medal standings with six gold, three silver and five bronze, following No. 8 Japan and No. 9 Australia.
The United States is cruising in the standings, being ranked first with 26 gold, 23 silver and 26 bronze, followed by Britain with 16 gold, 17 silver and eight bronze and China with 15 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze.
Having another gold-less day, it seems the chances are slim for South Korea to accomplish its goal of claiming at least 10 gold for a top 10 Rio finish. The women's golf and taekwondo are events that South Korean fans are anchoring their last hopes for gold medals.
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