By Yoon Chul
South Korean athletes earned five gold, three silver and three bronze medals on Day 3 of the Guangzhou Asian Games, Monday.
Korean shooters collected three gold and one silver medal, with Kim Hak-man earning two of the golds.
The country’s judokas continued their rise snatching one gold and two silver medals. Kim Ju-jin won gold in the men’s under 66-kilogram event, but Beijing Olympic silver medalist Wang Ki-chun — the strongest contender for gold at the Asiad — had to be satisfied with silver again.
Kim Jan-di looked to add another gold against world champion Kaori Matsumoto of Japan in the women’s under 57 kilogram event, but she fell to a yuko with 18 seconds left, leaving her with silver.
In “soft tennis,” Kim Kyung-ryun and Ji Yong-min combined for a gold medal in the mixed doubles event, while the men earned bronze.
Two swimmers, Seo Younjeong and Choi Hye-ra, also brought valuable bronze medals in the women’s 400-meter freestyle and 200-meter breaststroke, as the men’s team earned bronze in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
Kim, 34, won out in a close match in the individual men’s 50-meter rifle prone competition at the Aoti Shooting Range, scoring 103.3 in the final round for an overall 698.3 points, just 0.4 of a point ahead of Kazakhstan’s Yuriy Melsitove.
Before Kim won the individual match, he had already celebrated once with teammates Kim Jong-hyun and Han Jin-seop after topping the podium in the men’s rifle prone team event.
The Korean shooters earned a total of 1,785 points beating host China by 11, as they set a new Asian record.
South Korea added another gold medal in the women’s 50-meter rifle prone team event.
Team members Kim Jung-mi, Kwon Na-ra and Lee Eun-chae finished on 1,775 points, ahead of Thailand (1,763) and China (1,760).
However the Korean women didn’t fare so well in the individual event.
At the time of going to press 18 gold medals had been awarded, with Korea on 10 and China, eight.
Korea’s individual shooters Kim Hak-man and Kim Jong-hyun were on course to take gold and silver until the middle of competition.
Melsitove closed the gap on the Korean athletes and the margin between Kim Hak-man and Melsitove was down to just .1 point with one shot remaining.
But Kim calmly made a 10.8 point shot to hold on for the gold.
Meanwhile teammate Kim Jong-hyun finished seventh.
At the Huagong Gymnasium Kim Ju-jin consoled Korean fans, who were slightly disappointed with Wang’s silver, clinching top place.
Kim, who threw the strongest contender Jumpei Morishita of Japan for an ippon in the semifinal, tried repeatedly to throw opponent Mirzohid Farmonov, and earned the game with a yuko.
So far Korea has won six gold, two silver and three bronze medals in judo.
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