Sprinter sets new Korean record in 100m
Kim Kuk-young celebrates after setting new Korean record in the men’s 100m sprint. / Courtesy of GUOC
By Nam Hyun-woo, Yoon Sung-won,
GWANGJU ― Sprinter Kim Kuk-young broke the Korean record in the men’s 100m event, Thursday.
At the Gwangju Universiade Main Stadium, Kim finished his semifinal race in 10.16 seconds, 0.07 seconds faster than the previous Korean record of 10.23 seconds Kim set at the semifinal race in the National Athletics Championship in 2010.
Kim set that Korean record when he was 19.
Thanks to the new record, Kim qualified to compete at the Athletics World Championship in Beijing in August.
In the following final, however, Kim was sixth with 10.31 seconds.
Akani Simbine of the Republic of South Africa, who made a relatively slow start, clinched the gold with 9.97 seconds after showing off a powerful thrust in the latter half of his race. Jamaica’s Ashani Kemarley Brown won the silver with 10.12 seconds while Ramil Guliyev of Turkey bagged the bronze with 10.16 seconds.
Simbine broke the Universiade record he set when he finished his semifinal in 10 seconds. The current world record in the men’s 100m is 9.58 seconds set by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt in Berlin in 2009.
Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae practices her hoop routine at the Kwangju Women’s University Universiade Gymnasium in Gwangju, Thursday. / Courtesy of GUOC
Korea barely retains pride in taekwondo kyorugi
Korean taekwondo practitioners bagged a gold medal on the first day of taekwondo kyorugi events, Thursday, managing to retain their country’s pride as the nation where the sport originated.
Kim So-hee won gold in the women’s -57 kilogram, defeating Joana Da Silva Cunha of Portugal 6-0 in the final at the Chosun University Gymnasium.
Kim earned three points with a turning kick on the Portuguese with 45 seconds remaining in the second round. In the third round, she again displayed the technique to earn another three points.
For Kim, who won a bronze medal at the 2011 Universiade in Shenzhen, China, it was a long-awaited gold because taekwondo was excluded from the 2013 Kazan Universiade’s official program.
“There has been resentment after I settled for bronze four years ago, and I finally won the gold which feels so good,” she told reporters.
Kim has been one of the medal hopefuls among Korean taekwondo athletes. After winning a bronze in the women’s -49 kilogram of the 2014 World Taekwondo Federation’s World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 1 in Suzhou, China, she did not lose steam, winning the 2014 Incheon Asian Games gold in the -46 kilogram.
In the men’s -68 kilogram Ryu Dae-han claimed silver after allowing a 3-1 come-from-behind victory to Berkay Akyol.
Kim Dae-ik who competed in the men’s -54 kilogram suffered a landslide 20-4 loss in the semifinals against Seighalani Armin Hadipour of Iran and settled for bronze. Yu Su-yeon in the women’s -46 kilogram also bagged a bronze medal after a 2-0 loss against Wan-ting Lin of Chinese Taipei.
Of 23 gold medals up for grabs in taekwondo, Korea has so far clinched seven. In the poomsae events, held until Wednesday, Koreans swept all five gold.
1 gold, 1 silver in team sabre matches
Seemingly Korean fencers looked undersized against Western fencers in the men’s and women’s team sabre matches, but they completely thrilled the hundreds of spectators packing the Kimdaejung Convention Center, taking a gold in the women’s match and a silver in the men’s match on day seven.
The Korean female team, Choi Soo-yeon, Choi Shin-hui and Kim Seon-hee, clinched gold after defeating Russia 45-37.
Korea, who advanced to the final after crushing France 45-29 in the semifinals, got off to a bad start as Kim lost to Evgeniia Karbolina 4-5 in the first bout.
However, after Choi Shin-hui defeated Alina Meshcheriakova 6-1 in the second bout, Korea didn’t lose their lead.
The team sabre match consists of nine bouts in the first-to-45 points format, with every fencer on one team facing each fencer on the other team.
The female fencers especially aroused the spectators’ enthusiasm, as they shouted loudly whenever they earned a point.
“I feel like I am dreaming. Actually I was in despair as I lost to Russia’s Anna Bashta in round 16 of the women’s individual sabre. But Now I feel great as I could clinch a gold medal with my colleague fencers,” Choi Shin-hui told The Korea Times after the awards ceremony, adding she shouted loudly because she scored as she intended.
Before the women’s final match, the Korean men’s team secured a silver medal in a 40-45 loss to France.
The team of Kwak Jun-hyuk, Park Jun-young and Kwak Chang-woo advanced to the gold medal match after defeating China. France beat Italy in the semifinals.
Though Korea enjoyed a close lead by 2 points until the fifth bout, they soon handed over the advantage to France as Park allowed seven straight points to French fencer Maxime Pauty in the sixth.
Korea’s Kwak Jun-hyuk had a fierce match against Pauty in the last bout, but failed to narrow the gap.
Gymnast Son fights pressure, humidity
For Korea’s rhythmic gymnastics star Son Yeon-jae, the two obstacles to success at the 2015 Gwangju Universiade are apparently the big pressure and the high humidity.
“My plan for the Universiade is to present what I can do,” Son said after her training session at the Kwangju Women’s University Gymnasium, Thursday.
Son returned to Korea on Wednesday from Russia and had her first training session for the Gwangju event on Thursday.
Since she is one of the biggest Korean gymnastics stars, along with Olympic champion Yang Hak-seon, who dropped out early from the artistic gymnastics event because of injury, all focus is on whether she can thrive under pressure.
When asked about how she feels about filling Yang’s shoes, she said it came with a lot of pressure.
“Every game is so important and there are high expectations for me,” Son said. “So I feel pressured, but I’m trying to make that pressure into a driving force.”
During the training session, she wiped the ball many times because of the high humidity in the city.
“The high humidity here is an important factor,” she said. “Foreign athletes are having trouble dealing with the ribbon because of the humidity.”
She also said she was still suffering jetlag after her trip from Russia and was not in good condition. But said she will increase her training, because the more she trains, the better she feels.