South Korea Clinches Team Table Tennis Bronze
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
South Korea won a bronze medal in the men's table tennis team competition at the Beijing Olympics Monday.
The Korean team, comprised of Ryu Seung-min, Oh Sang-eun and Yoon Jae-young, defeated Austria 3-1 to bring home the country's second bronze in the sport. The women's team also finished third after downing Japan 3-1 Sunday.
Ryu, the reigning Olympic singles champion, lost to Robert Gardos 14-12, 11-8, 11-13, 11-5, but Oh gave Korea a win by defeating Werner Schlager, the 2003 world champion, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.
The Korean doubles team of Yoon and Oh ousted Chen Weixing and Gardos 11-8, 11-4, 13-11.
Ryu then clinched the bronze by beating Chen 11-9, 11-5, 11-7.
The singles preliminary rounds start Tuesday.
South Korea's baseball team remained undefeated in the Beijing Games by edging Taiwan 9-8 Monday.
Lotte Giants catcher Kang Min-ho hit a tie-breaking RBI single in the seventh inning to help Korea improve its record to 5-0 in the preliminary round.
Korean manager Kim Kyung-moon's team has already clinched a berth in the Olympic semifinals.
The Korean squad, comprised mostly of players from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), will face Cuba, the tournament's only other unbeaten team, in a preliminary game Tuesday.
South Korea scored seven runs in the top of the first against Taiwan. Ko Young-min punctuated that rally with a three-run homer.
Taiwan came back to tie the score 8-8 in the sixth on Peng Cheng-min's two-run double.
But Kang hit a single off reliever Chang Chih-chia to drive in the winning run.
The Korean men's handball team lost to Russia 29-22 in its final match of the group stage.
South Korea, which clinched a quarterfinal berth Saturday, trailed the Russians 17-12 in the first half, but narrowed its deficit to 19-17, thanks to ejections of Russian players Alexander Chernoivanov and Kamanin Alexey.
However, the Russians kept their lead until the end of the game.
Korea's record fell to 3-2 with six points, while the Russians improved to 2-1-2 with five points.
South Korean boxer Kim Jung-joo upset world champion Demetrius Andrade of the United States with an 11-9 win to advance to the semifinals of the welterweight class.
The win ensures Kim of winning at least a bronze medal. By adding that medal to the bronze he won at the 2004 Athens Games, he joins Lee Seung-bae as the only South Korean boxers to earn medals at two straight Olympics. Lee won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Kim will compete in his semifinal match against Kazakhstan's Bakhyt Sarsekbayev, who topped Dilshod Mahmudov of Uzbekistan 12-7 in another quarterfinal fight.
Kim, who is 1.7 meters tall, built an 8-6 lead after three rounds against Andrade, who is 13 centimeters taller.
Andrade threw a flurry of punches in the final round, but Kim countered, causing the score of the round to end in a 3-3 tie, which secured the Korean a victory.
Unsatisfied with the score, Andrade left the ring before the decision was announced.
The Korean women's handball team routed Hungary 33-22 in its final Group B game and reached the quarterfinals.
South Korea, ranked second behind Russia in its group, will face China, which is ranked third in Group A, on Tuesday.
South Korea, which won women's handball titles at the Olympics in 1988 and 1992, took a 6-0 lead, as Oh Seong-ok provided a strong performance and goalkeeper Oh Yong-ran held the opponents scoreless until the eighth minute.
The Koreans led 19-11 at halftime and extended their advantage to 27-16 in the second half.
Oh Seong-ok, the oldest member of the squad at 35, finished with a team-high six points, and An Jung-hwa and Moon Pil-hee each added five.
Oh Yong-ran denied 14 of Hungary's 36 shots in the match.