Korea secures No. 1 spot at Gwangju Universiade
Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae performs her ribbon routine at Kwangju Women's University Gymnasium in Gwangju, Sunday. Son capture the gold in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics. / Courtesy of GUOC
By Nam Hyun-woo, Baek Byung-yeul
GWANGJU — The host of the 2015 Gwangju Universiade, Korea, secured No. 1 spot on the medals table, Suday, for the first time in the country's summer Universiade saga.
Korea added nine more gold medals in the badminton, rhythmic gymnastics, taekwondo and tennis on day 10, leading the table with 44 gold, 28 silver and 26 bronze. Seventeen gold are up for grabs on Monday and Tuesday.
As of 11 p.m., Russia trails Korea with 32 gold, 37 silver and 44 bronze. Third-placed China collected 32 gold, 20 silver and 15 bronze.
In the remaining fixture, the Russians can collect up to nine gold, while the Chinese can add up to six, meaning Korea topped the table regardless of the results of competitions down the road.
In 2007, the country finished first at the 2007 Winter Universiade in Torino, Italy.
Among nine heroes and heroeins of Sunday, the brightest was rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae.
Son clinched Korea’s first Universiade gold in the individual all-around event.
The 21-year-old gymnast topped in all four disciplines. In the second half of the two-day event, Son led in the ribbon (18.05) and clubs (18.35) at the Kwangju Women’s University Gymnasium. She also posted the highest score in the ball and hoop with 18.15 and 18 points, a day earlier.
With a combined 72.55 points, Son won gold, followed by Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine who earned 71.75 points and Melitina Staniouta of Bulgaria who took bronze.
“I didn’t expect that I could win the gold,” Son told reporters after the award ceremony.
“I had a lot of pressure while preparing for this event. But I am satisfied with my performance as I wrapped up all four events without making any mistakes.”
With gold in the Universiade, Son wrote another history in Korea’s rhythmic gymnastics.
After she clinched Korea’s first bronze in the sport in the 2010 Asian Games, she finished fifth in the individual all-around in the 2012 Olympics.
She became a star athlete in Korea when she won in last year’s Asian Games and the Rhythmic Gymnastics Asian Championships last month in the individual all-around.
Though Margarita Mamun and Yana Kudryavtseva, the world’s Nos. 1 and 3 gymnasts from Russia were absent as they decided not to participate due to their fear over the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Son had a fierce competition with European gymnasts Rizatdinova and Staniouta.
“Even though Mamun and Kudryavtseva were not here, I knew I’d still be competing with some of the best rhythmic gymnasts in the world. I focused on winning the gold medal,” the world No. 4 said.
She will compete in the individual finals today.
Badminton player wins second straight Universiade
Sung Ji-hyun bagged a gold in the women’s singles badminton, Sunday, winning the women’s singles for two straight Universiades.
At Hwasun Hanium Culture Sports Center in South Jeolla Province, Sung beat Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) in a neck-and-neck race.
From the first set, the two tested each other in tight rallies. After Sung brushed off the Thai’s pursuit by 21-18, Bauranaprasertsuk took an early 11-6 lead in the second set, but Sung overcame her to win 20-19.
In the mixed doubles final, Kim Ki-jung and Shin Seung-chan thrashed the duo of Chiang Kai-hsin and Lu Ching-yao of Chinese Taipei 2-0 to clinch their second gold at the Universiade. On July 8, Kim and Shin contributed to Korea’s 3-0 victory over China in the mixed team events.
Chung Hyeon gestures after capturing the gold in the men's singles tennis final, Sunday. / Courtesy of GUOC
Tennis star Chung Hyeon captures gold
Korea’s teenage tennis star Chung Hyeon took the gold in the men’s singles, continuing Korea’s winning streak at the Universiade.
In the final match at the Yeomju Indoor Tennis Court in Gwangju, Chung came from behind to defeat Aslan Karatsev of Russia 2-1 (1-6, 6-2, 6-0). It was the second Universiade medal for Chung, who teamed up with Nam Ji-sung a day earlier to win silver in the men’s doubles.
With Chung’s gold, Korean men won the third consecutive Universiade men’s singles tennis events. Lim Yong-kyu, who teamed up with Chung to win the 2014 Incheon Asian Games men’s doubles gold, bagged gold at the 2011 Universiade in Shenzhen, China, and the 2013 event in Kazan, Russia. Lim missed the Gwangju games due to an injury.
Korea also won gold in the men’s team event. At the Universiade, the team gold is awarded to a country whose athletes showed the best results in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. No additional match for team events is played.
Against world No.180 Karatsev, Chung, No. 79, seemed to struggle with a number of misses and double faults. Chung claimed a game after conceding two, but failed to narrow the gap, ending the first set 1-6.
In the second set, Chung’s strokes improved and led the Russian 5-2. Then, Karatsev requested a medical timeout because of pain in his left ankle. Chung exploited this to cap off the second set 6-2 and blanked Karatsev in the third set.
A day earlier, the pair of Lee So-ra and Han Na-lae clinched the first Universiade women’s doubles tennis gold in 24 years.
In the final at the Yeomju Indoor Tennis Court, the Koreans defeated Hsu Chieh-Yu and Lee Ya-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei 2-0 (6-4, 6-4).
The drizzling rain, which forced the match to be moved indoors after a delay of about two hours, was favorable to Han and Lee.
“I prefer indoor courts. I could play a better match,” Han said.
The Koreans bagged three out of seven gold up for grabs.
Kim Min-jeong celebrates after winning the taekwondo gold medal in the women's under-53kg event, Sunday. / Courtesy of GUOC
Korea wins 7th gold in taekwondo
Kim Min-jeong won the women’s -53 kilogram taekwondo, Sunday, fetching Korea’s seventh gold in the sport.
At the Chosun University Gymnasium, Kim beat Huang Yun-wen of Chinese Taipei 8-4 in the gold medal contest, after mauling Huang to take seven points in the second round. With each earning one penalty point apiece, Huang fought back in the third round and added three points, but Kim held on to her lead.
About 10 minutes later, In Kyo-don in the men’s -87 kilogram attempted to add another gold to Korea’s collection, but failed, as he suffered a 3-4 loss against Omid Amidi of Iran in the finals.
Both Kim and In are scheduled to compete in the women’s and men’s team kyorugi on Monday.