Archers hit the gold standard for 3rd time

Korean women archers were on target yesterday in capturing the team event gold medal, the nation’s third in the sport at the 15th Asiad. The trio of Park Sung-hyun, Yun Mi-jin and Yun Ok-hee beat the Chinese team, 215-209 for Korea’s third straight women’s team gold medal in the Asian Games. Park, the senior member of the team who won an individual gold earlier, said winning the team title was more gratifying than the individual honors.

Yun Mi-jin, another veteran, said she gets nervous at every competition, but “My teammates always help me relax and settle down. Today was no different, and that’s why we all have gold medals.” In sailing yesterday, Kim Dae-young and Jung Sung-ahn won their third straight Asiad gold in the men’s 470 race (numbers indicate boat length). It was the only gold by Korea in sailing in Doha. In the men’s Hobie-16 open race, Park Kyu-tae and Sung Chang-il picked up silver, and in the bronze medal match of the Beneteau 7.5 race, a Korean quartet led by Kim Tae-jung beat Thailand for the bronze. Earlier, there were some firsts for the Korean delegation, but not all were positive. Park Jae-myoung won Korea’s first track and field gold medal, taking the men’s javelin title at 79.3 meters (260.2 feet), over Japan’s Yukifumi Murakami’s (78.15 meters). It also turned out to be the last. Of 45 golds up for grabs in track and field, Korea squeezed out just one on the final day of competition. Top gold medal prospect Kim Deok-hyun took the bronze in the men’s triple jump. Park’s event kept Korean officials on the edge of their seats ― the javelin throw took nearly two hours to complete, and only the 4x400-meter relay races finished later. It was worth the wait for Park, who picked up his first gold on the global stage. “I had no idea it could be this exciting to win an Asian Game gold,” Park said. “I couldn’t relax until Murakami had his last throw, because I thought he was capable of going over 80 meters,” Park said. “To win the gold on the last day makes it even sweeter.” On the soccer pitch, the Korean men suffered their first loss in Doha late Tuesday, but it was the only blow needed to knock Korea out of gold medal contention. Iraq beat Korea 1-0 in a semifinal on a goal by Samer Mujbel in the 24th minute. Korean failed to capitalize on a slew of chances. Korean coach Pim Verbeek gave credit to the Iraqi defense, but took the blame for the shutout. “It’s my responsibility that we didn’t score a goal despite numerous chances,” Verbeek said. “We ran practices on set pieces, but Iraq’s defense proved hard to crack.” After taking the lead, Iraqi players delayed the game several times by falling on the ground upon contact with Korean players. Just before the half, Mujbel, the Iraqi goal scorer, winced on the pitch after getting tangled up with Korean midfielder Lee Ho, but Mujbel got up with a smile after the whistle. Verbeek said it is up to referees to run the game and he had no complaints. “Such tactics were expected, and they are understandable,” the coach said. “The fact is we gave them reasons to pull those strategies. They had the lead, after all.” Iraq, which won the Asiad title once in 1982, goes to the finals against home team Qatar tomorrow. Korea, which last won Asiad gold in 1986, will play Iran for the bronze today. The Korean men’s basketball team also suffered an ignominious first, after its 68-52 quarterfinal loss to China. Korea will be without an Asiad basketball medal for the first time since the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games, when it began sending a national team. The Korea-China showdown was the rematch of the dramatic gold medal game from the 2002 Asian Games in Busan. In 2002, Korea erased a seven-point deficit with 30 seconds left to win 102-100 in overtime. But this year’s team was younger and less experienced on the big stage. Not helping the cause were injuries to key players. Center Seo Jang-hoon and small forward Lee Kyu-sup both missed the China game with back and thigh injuries. Sharp-shooting forward Bang Sung-yoon, who scored 42 points against Qatar earlier on a bad ankle, aggravated the injury just three minutes into the China game, and left the contest for good. Korea stayed close early but China pulled away to a 41-25 lead behind center Yi Jianlian, who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Korean center Ha Seung-jin, the first Korean to play in the NBA, had 16 points and 16 rebounds. But fellow post Kim Joo-sung fouled out in the third quarter. Korea had no answer to the Chinese post players, including Yi and former NBA center Wang Zhizhi. “In Doha, we learned a lot about the state of Korean basketball,” coach Choi Bu-yung said. “We have no perimeter shooters beside Bang Sung-yoon. We simply can’t win without a powerful presence down low, and we can’t get by just on technique any more.” On a more positive note, the Korean men’s field hockey team advanced to the gold medal match against China by blanking Japan 2-0 on two goals by Jang Jong-hyun. Korea is the defending champion, and also took the gold in 1986 and 1994. Korea is undefeated and has allowed only two goals in five contests. It beat China 3-0 in the preliminaries, and coach Cho Myung-jun is confident heading into the gold match tomorrow. by Yoo Jee-ho