Tennis favorite Kwon Soon-woo denied singles gold shot

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Published: 25 Sep. 2023, 17:19 Updated: 26 Sep. 2023, 20:26

Tennis favorite Kwon Soon-woo denied singles gold shot

Tennis player Kwon Soon-woo speaks to reporters following his arrival at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Hangzhou, China on Wednesday last week. [NEWS1]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo lost the men’s singles second round match at the 19th Asian Games 2-1 to Samrej Kasidit of Thailand on Monday, crashing out of the singles tournament with a doubles event still left to play.

Kwon lost the first set 6-3, competing at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Tennis Centre Court 2 in Hangzhou, China. He seemed to bounce back in the second set, winning it 7-5.

But he fell short in the third set, losing it 6-4. The loss snatched his chance to reach the round of 16.

Kwon returned to the court at the U.S. Open last month after six months of injury, but he has not secured a win since his return.

As of press time, Kwon still had a doubles match to play alongside countryman Hong Seong-chan. The pair was due to face Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and Thantub Suksumrarn of Thailand at 3:45 p.m. local time, or 4:45 p.m. Korea time.

Korea has won few medals in tennis at recent Asiad tournaments despite being the second-winningest country in Games history, with 55 tennis medals in total. It took just one bronze in the 2018 Asiad and one gold in 2014.

Japan is the winningest country in tennis with over 90 medals at the Asian Games.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]