First gold comes in judo; 4th time does it for Jang

For his first wedding anniversary on Dec. 17, South Korean judoka Jang Sung-ho won’t have to shop for diamond rings or gold jewelry. He’s got an Asian Games gold medal to take home. Jang earned the nation’s first gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, as he beat his archrival, Satoshi Ishii of Japan, in the men’s under-100 (220 pounds) kilogram judo final Saturday.

“Even after getting married, I haven’t been home very much because of my training schedule,” Jang said. “This gold medal is the perfect gift to my wife.” It was sweet revenge for Jang ― he had lost three times to Ishii, including in the final at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. “I was going to retire if I didn’t win the gold here,” Jang said. “But with the Asiad gold out of the way, I will gun for the Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.” Korean judoka Lee So-yeon was the silver medallist in the women’s under-78 kilogram class, but it was a bittersweet silver, as Lee allowed Japan’s Sae Nakazawa to tie things up with a second left and then lost in overtime. Afterward an emotional Lee couldn’t contain herself on the podium, and failed to complete her press conference. “I’ve worked so hard to get here, and it was a huge mistake on my part to relax in the last second,” Lee said. “There’s no question I should have stayed alert until the buzzer.” The blend of elation and disappointment on the judo mat was a microcosm of South Korea’s performance over the first weekend of this 15-day event. Korea’s first medal came on Saturday, the first day of competition, as the men’s 10-meter air rifle team captured the silver behind China. The trio of Yu Jae-chul, Kim Hyu-sung and Chae Kean-bae scored 1,777 points, just nine points behind the Chinese gold total of 1,786 points. Yu, the youngest of the three Koreans at 17, later won bronze in the men’s individual 10-meter air rifle event. “The athletes we believed would perform as expected didn’t do so. By contrast, those that we did not expect to finish well, did finish well,” said Park Sang-soon, coach of the South Korean shooting team. One of the shooters expected to do better was Lee Bo-na, who won Olympic silver two years ago in women’s double trap and was the leader of the South Korean team. But the trio of Lee, Lee Jung-a and Lee Myung-ae finished behind China and North Korea for the bronze. Lee Bo-na was not able to reach the medal round in individual trap, later admitting that she “looked too far ahead and lost focus on the present surroundings.” On the opening weekend, South Korea got two silvers in men’s shooting, and bronze medals in women’s judo, women’s team table tennis, men’s weightlifting, men’s swimming and men’s artistic gymnastics. The biggest disappointment for South Korea over the weekend came on the baseball diamond, where the men’s team’s dream of winning its third straight Asian Games gold evaporated with a swing of a bat by a Japanese amateur on Saturday. Hisayoshi Chono hit a walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Korean closer Oh Seung-hwan. Coupled with its 4-2 loss to Chinese Taipei in the opening match of the round robin on Thursday, the best Korea can now hope for is a bronze medal. To do so, it must defeat its remaining opponents, Thailand and China. Yesterday Korea downed the Philippines, 12-2. The Japanese team included only collegiate players and industry league members, with no professionals. The Korean team, while missing its major leaguers, featured Korean league all-stars. The abrupt loss to Japan elicited a strong reaction from TV commentator Huh Gu-yeon on MBC: “For Korean baseball, this is a day of national humiliation,” he said. The players themselves appeared shell shocked, leaving the stadium without doing interviews with the media. Manager Kim Jae-park relayed his comments through the Korean Baseball Organization. “Well, we lost,” he said. “A loser usually doesn’t have a lot to say. I can’t face the fans back home.” For professional soccer players on the men’s national team, the results were better, but they will have to play better to get their first Asian Games gold in 20 years. Korea defeated Vietnam 2-0 in its second Group B contest, and with a 3-0 victory over Bangladesh on Tuesday, the Koreans have virtually secured a quarterfinal berth. But their performance was lackluster. After midfielder Lee Ho scored the opening goal against Vietnam, the Korean team missed a slew of scoring chances, and Vietnam threatened the Korean net. “We don’t want to make excuses for not scoring more than two goals,” coach Pim Verbeek said. “We should have been better.” Korea next faces Bahrain Wednesday in the final group match. Verbeek said Bahrain is the strongest team in the group. North Korea got a silver medal in women’s team trap shooting and a bronze medal in women’s team table tennis. The North finished ninth in the medal count in Busan four years ago. The South Korean men’s basketball team began its quest for a second straight Asiad gold early today. Its first foe was Iran. by Yoo Jee-ho