2 more bronze medals in table tennis
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Table tennis player Lee Sang-su serves during his men’s singles semifinal match against Japan’s Masataka Morizono at the Jangseong Honggildong Gymnasium in South Jeolla Province, Monday. / Courtesy of GUOC
By Baek Byung-yeul
GWANGJU ― Korean table tennis players wrapped up their competition by adding two more bronze medals Monday.
Lee Sang-su and Yang Ha-eun played in the men and women’s singles semi-final matches, respectively, but fell short against their Japanese and Chinese opponents at Jangseong Honggildong Gymnasium. Lee lost to Japan’s Masataka Morizono 1-4 (7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11, 4-11) while Yang was defeated 0-4 (10-12, 4-11, 4-11, 2-11) by Che Xiaoxi of China.
As there is no bronze contest for table tennis, Lee and Yang shared third place with other dropouts Liu Yi of China and Bernadette Cynthia Szocs of Romania.
With two bronze medals, Korea garnered a total of one gold and five bronze medals. The Korean table tennis duo of Kim Min-seok and Jeon Ji-hee clinched gold in mixed doubles after beating the Chinese Taipei team of Chen Szu-yu and Chang Hung-chieh 4-0 on Saturday.
Korean badminton players celebrate after adding five gold medals in the Gwangju Universiade mixed doubles, women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles tournaments at the Hwasun Hanium Culture Sports Center in South Jeolla Province, Sunday. / Courtesy of GUOC
Korea takes every gold in badminton
Korean badminton players added five gold medals Sunday, taking every gold medal in the sport.
At the Hwasun Hanium Culture Sports Center in South Jeolla Province, the Korean duo of Kim Gi-jung and Kim Sa-rang won gold in men’s doubles after defeating Wang Yilyu and Zhang Wen of China 2-0 (21-16, 22-20).
With the gold, Kim Gi-jung became the sport’s second triple gold medalist following Shin Seung-chan who won at mixed team, women’s doubles and mixed doubles together with Kim.
Prior to the men’s doubles, Kim paired with Shin and thrashed the duo of Chiang Kai-hsin and Lu Ching-yao of Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the mixed doubles 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.
Right after the mixed doubles, Sung Ji-hyun bagged a gold in the women's singles badminton, winning the women's singles for two straight Universiades.
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.
Jeon Hyuk-jin also secured a gold after beating his teammate Son Wan-bo 2-1 (22-20, 13-21, 21-17). In the women’s doubles, Shin and Lee So-hee defeated the Chinese duo of Ou Dongni and Yu Xiaohan 2-0 (21-16, 21-13)
Gymnast Son Yeon-jae
wins gold
Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae clinched Korea’s first Universiade gold in the individual all-around event, Sunday.
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 Kwangju Women’s University Gymnasium.
She also posted the highest score in the ball and hoop with 18.15 and 18 points, Saturday.
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 all four events without making any mistakes.”
With gold in the Universiade, Son wrote another history in Korea’s rhythmic gymnastics.