Badminton star captures women's singles gold; pistol shooter nabs 6th medal for S. Korea
An Se-young of South Korea kisses her gold medal won in the women's singles badminton event at the Paris Olympics at Porte de La Chapelle Arena in Paris, Aug. 5. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
The world's top-ranked badminton star An Se-young captured her first career Olympic gold medal in the women's singles on Monday, giving South Korea its 11th gold medal of the Paris Games.
Before An's title, all 10 of South Korean gold medals had come from archery, fencing and shooting.
Earlier in the day, Cho Yeong-jae capped a successful campaign for the South Korean shooting team by taking the silver medal in the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol event. South Korea finished the shooting competition in France with six medals, its most ever for a single Olympics, with three gold medals and three silver medals.
South Korea is closing in on its Summer Games record of 13 gold medals with six days of competition remaining. The country won 13 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and matched that total four years later in London.
Among the remaining events, South Korean athletes are expected to contend for medals in taekwondo, women's golf, modern pentathlon, men's high jump and weightlifting.
The two medals on Monday raised South Korea's overall tally to 26, seven shy of its record set as the host of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
In the badminton gold medal match, An defeated world No. 9 from China, He Bingjiao, by 2-0 (21-13, 21-16). An had lost the first game of each of her past two knockout matches, but seized control from the onset in the final. Although He tried to rally back, An stayed in front throughout the second game and delivered South Korea's first badminton gold in a singles event since 1996.
Moments after winning the gold medal, An caused a stir by taking shots at the national team over its poor handling of her knee injury from last year.
An had suffered a torn ligament in her right knee during the gold medal match of the 2023 Asian Games. She claimed that the national team staff didn't take her injury as seriously as they should have because of a misdiagnosis, and she was forced to keep playing through lingering pain.
An said it may be "difficult" for her to continue on with the national team but she later clarified that she was not retiring from international play.
Cho Yeong-jae of South Korea celebrates after winning the silver medal won in the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol event at the Paris Olympics at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, France, Aug. 5. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
In the pistol final, Cho finished second to Li Yuehong of China, 32-25. After six other finalists were eliminated through nine series of shots, Li held a 27-24 lead over Cho with the gold medal at stake.
Shooting first, Li needed to hit the 9.7 zone at least three times to secure the title, and went a perfect 5-for-5 in his final series.
With his fate already determined, Cho only got one hit in his late series to grab the silver medal.
Jeon Ji-hee of South Korea competes against Brazil in the round of 16 of the women's table tennis team event at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, Aug. 5. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Also on Monday, South Korea defeated Brazil 3-1 in the round of 16 in the women's table tennis team event.
Shin Yu-bin and Jeon Ji-hee won the opening doubles matches, and while Jeon and Lee Eun-hye each won a singles match for the knockout win.
In wrestling, Lee Seung-chan lost to four-time defending champion Mijain Lopez 7-0 in the round of 16 in the men's 130-kilogram Greco-Roman event. All is not lost on Lee, however, as he was placed in the repechage round after Lopez advanced to the final.
Lee will face Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran, who lost to Lopez in the quarterfinals, in one of two repechage matches on Tuesday. The winner of that showdown will move on to the bronze medal contest against Sabah Shariati of Azerbaijan, who lost to Lopez in the semifinals. (Yonhap)