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| South Korea's Jeong Gyeong-mi, left, smiles as she holds her gold medal, standing next to silver medalist North Korea's Sol Kyong during the medal ceremony for the women's under-78 kg judo gold medal contest at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Monday. / AP-Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo, Yoon Sung-won
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"I really want to thank my coaches," she said after the match in the Dowon Gymansium, as she tried to fight back tears. "They kept supporting me when a lot of people told me to give up."
The victory also led Jeong to become the first South Korean female to win two straight golds at the Asian Games. The 29-year old won her weight class at the Guangzhou Asiad in 2010.
Gwak Dong-han in the men's under-90 kg class, Cho Gu-ham in the men's under-100 kg, Kim Eun-kyeong in the women's over-78 kg and Kim Sung-min in the over-100 kg added one bronze medal each.
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| South Korean shooters Lee Jung-eun, left, Kwak Jung-hye, center, and Kim Jang-mi celebrate winning the gold medal in the women's 25-meter pistol team event with 1,748 points at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range in Incheon, Monday. / Yonhap |
Earlier that day, Korean female shooters also clinched gold in the women's team 25m pistol, Monday, to maintain a tight race with China in the medal standings at the Games.
At the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range, the trio of Kim Jang-mi, Kwak Jung-hye and Lee Jung-eun combined for 1,748 points with 48 bullseyes, besting the Chinese who shot 1,747 with 57 bullseyes.
Kim, a London Olympics gold medalist at this distance, scored 584 points, Kwak 583 points and Lee 581 points.
Kim made an uneasy start. She recorded 289 points in the precision stage, remaining in 11th place among 36 contestants. In this stage, shooters have to fire five shots over a five minute period.
But in the rapid-fire stage, where shooters have 3 seconds to raise their arm and fire for 30 shots, she scored 295 points, finishing in third place.
The medal is the third gold for the Korean shooting team. A day earlier teenage shooter Kim Cheong-yong earned two in the individual and team 10m air pistol events.
Each shooter's record from the team event decides the top eight who will then compete in the individuals, meaning all three Korean shooters have a chance to compete for gold.
The women's individual 25m was an all-Chinese final between Zhang Jingjing and Chen Ying. Zhang clinched the gold, defeating her teammate and 2010 Beijing gold medalist Chen 7-5.
Hours earlier, Korean rifle shooters bagged a bronze, firing an aggregate 1,241.6 points with 86 bullseyes.
The trio of Kim Seol-a, Kim Gae-nam and Jeong Mi-ra followed the Chinese team's 1,253.8 with 104 bullseyes and the Iranians who shot 1245.9 points with 96 bullseyes.
This is the first time that the Koreans have won a medal in this event at the Asiads since the 2002 Busan Games.
In the competition, however, a hasty announcement brought about confusion.
Initially, the Chinese topped the competition, breaking the previous world record, but the jury stripped them of their title as team member Zhang Binbin was disqualified for violating the rifle weight regulation.
At an inspection, Zhang was revealed to have added weighting material to her rifle ― a heavier weapon is more stable.
The decision gave Singapore the bronze at 1,241.1 points with 90 bull's eyes.
China appealed that Zhang's violation was not "intentional" and about an hour later, the appeal jury reversed the decision, reinstating China's gold and stripping Singapore of bronze.
The reversal sparked a series of allegations that the three-member jury, consisting of Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean judges, favored Zhang.
"I believed everything that I did was right. So I tried not to worry about it. I had faith that I would advance to the finals and I kept telling myself that and try to be myself," Zhang said through an interpreter.
Kim Seol-a, 18, led the team and made it into the individual 10m air rifle finals, finishing in eighth place.
In the individual competition, Iran's Khedmati Najmeh and Narjes Emamgholinejad Andevari won gold and silver with 207.9 points and 206.6 points, respectively, while Zhang, who was at the center of the controversy, bagged bronze with 186.3 points.
At Bucheon Gymnasium, meanwhile, Korea grabbed the silver in the men's sepaktakraw double regu, after defeating reigning champ Myanmar in sets 2:0.
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