South Korea wins gold in women's handball

South Korean handball players celebrate winning a gold medal after defeating China in the women's handball final at the POPKI Sport Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday. / Yonhap

Athletes disclose pre-game pressure for expectations from home

By Kang Aa-young

The South Korean women's handball team has clinched its second consecutive Asian Games title, Thursday, after defeating China.

Their victory illustrates the ethos “practice makes perfect” as they, like other South Korean athletes, worked extremely hard to prepare for the Games.

South Korea crushed China 29-23 in the final.

“It's a result of our extreme amount of practice,” said veteran player Kim On-a, after winning the final game.

The women's handball team was one of South Korea's gold medal favorites, having achieved numerous victories since the game was introduced in the 1990 Asian Games, only falling short of gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

The seven-time Asiad champions appeared to take this year's gold in stride.

Prior to the Asian Games, the team members confessed they had “wrestled with immense pressure because expectations from home fans were too high” and thus they had a hard time meeting the fans' expectations. Athletes said they hope the public can take their victory as a result of their hardships instead of taking it for granted.

“We analyzed our opponents and practiced a lot to win the competition,” Kim said.

“Handball is a sport where players compete through the amount of practice they put in. So we practiced extremely hard for the game and I hope the public understands the nature of the sport and takes the results as an outcome of our hard work.”

She said she and her teammates were embarrassed because the public took their victory for granted even before the Asian Games.

“I also heard people saying that,” said Han Mi-seul, who made her Asiad debut this year. “But we had a hard time practicing and some players suffered from injuries. We were under pressure.”

The women's handball team is undergoing a generational shift as younger athletes are replacing the older players.

Especially with key players missing because of injuries, young rookie players have joined the team and hope to mesh with the veterans' knowhow.

Kim, who had been the team's youngest player in the 2008 Olympics, is now its leading ace with the most experience.

“I told the inexperienced younger players to not to get too tensed up,” Kim said. “I tell them it's okay to make some mistakes because they are young.”

The team already has their eyes on gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"If we do as we plan, I won't worry so much about that," head coach Lee Kye-chung said. "We have many experienced players, so if those injured players are coming back to the squad and we add a few more players, we'll have no problem."