South Korea adds wrestling bronze
South Korean wrestler Kim Hyeo-woo poses with his bronze medal on the podium after the men’s Greco-Roman 75 kg wrestling match in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics at Carioca Arena 2, Sunday. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
South Korean wrestler Kim Hyeon-woo added a bronze medal on day 9 of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, despite a judging controversy.
At Carioca Arena 2, Kim competed in the men’s Greco-Roman 75 kg class event, and was eliminated from the round of 16 after taking a controversial 7-5 loss against Russia’s Roman Vlasov.
Losing by 6-3, Kim performed a four point throw against the Russian wrestler that would have made the score to 7-6, but Kim only received two points. Disobeying the ruling, Kim’s head coach An Han-bong requested a video review, but the original decision was not overturned. With Kim losing the challenge, Vlasov earned an extra point.
After the loss, Kim, who won gold at the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling 66 kg class at the 2012 London Olympics, was pulled into the repechage as Vlasov made it into the finals. Kim survived the repechage and advanced to the bronze medal match.
During the match against Bozo Starcevic of Croatia Kim suffered a dislocated elbow but defeated Starcevic 6-4 to win his second Olympic medal.
Kim expressed his regret for missing a chance to win gold.
“I knew my match fell on Liberation Day,” Kim said. “I still got the valuable bronze medal. My goal was to have an Olympics without regrets, but I have some. Perhaps I didn’t try hard enough.”
Other than Kim’s bronze, no other medals were won by South Koreans.
In shooting, Kim Jong-hyun who bagged a surprising silver in the 50-meter rifle prone Friday, failed to advance to the final in the men’s 50-meter rifle three positions though he won the silver in the event four years ago.
In boxing, the sole South Korean boxer Ham Sang-myeong was eliminated in the second round of the men’s bantamweight (56 kg) class.
Facing China’s Zhang Jiawei, Ham lost by unanimous decision, with the three judges scoring 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
Ham had a good memory against the Chinese as he clinched the gold at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games after defeating Zhang in the final, but thing were different in Rio.
In fencing, the men’s epee team lost to Hungary 45-42 in the quarterfinals. The team finished fifth after defeating Venezuela and then Switzerland.
With the result, South Korea wrapped up the fencing event with Park Sang-young’s gold from the men’s individual epee and Kim Jung-hwan’s bronze from the men’s individual sabre.
In golf, two South Korean male golfers — An Byeong-hun and Wang Jeung-hun — failed to claim a medal. An finished the four-day tournament at a 6-under 278 to share 11th place and Wang wrapped up at a 2-over 286 to place 43rd.
An, the 2015 European Tour’s Rookie of the Year, was 10 behind gold medalist Justin Rose of Britain, but he said he had enjoyed the tournament and expressed his hope to compete again in four years time. “I don’t know if I will have the opportunity to compete at the Olympics four years from now. But I would love to come back.”
The South Korean women’s volleyball team wrapped up their preliminary group matches after defeating Cameroon 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-20) in a Pool A match. South Korea will have their quarterfinals match against the Netherlands, Tuesday.
In the gold medal tally, South Korea ranks 10th with six gold, three silver and five bronze. The United States has been leading the standings with 26 gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze, followed by Britain with 15 gold, 16 silver and seven bronze and China with 15 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze.