Korea defeats China 4-1 in final to secure Go gold

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Published: 03 Oct. 2023, 19:53 Updated: 04 Oct. 2023, 23:49

Korea defeats China 4-1 in final to secure Go gold

Korean Go pro Park Jeong-hwan, right, competes against Mi Yuting of China in the men's team final at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Hangzhou Qi-Yuan Chess Hall in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Korean men’s Go team beat China 4-1 in the final at the Hangzhou Asian Games to win a gold medal on Tuesday, claiming Korea’s first gold in the sport on the last day of the Go schedule.

Team Korea — consisting of Byeon Sang-il, Kim Myung-hun, Park Jeong-hwan, Shin Jin-seo and Shin Min-jun — faced Li Qincheng, Zhao Chenyu, Mi Yuting, Yang Dingxin and Ke Jie at Hangzhou Qi-Yuan Chess Hall in Hangzhou, China.

The final took place with a one-on-one format with the side that won three games taking gold.

Byeon lost 2-0 to Li, but Kim won 2-0 to Zhao and Park also beat Mi 2-0. Shin Jin-seo and Shin Min-jun also managed a 2-0 win over Yang and Ke respectively, winning the contest 4-1 against China to take the coveted title.

Women's Go team settle for silver after tough final

With the gold, Korea ended the Asiad with three medals in total — a silver from the women’s team earlier in the day and a bronze from Shin Jin-seo in the men’s individual competition on Thursday last week.

Go — better known as Baduk in Korea — along with several other table games such as chess, xiangqi and bridge, is one of the “mind sports” in which countries can pick up medals at this year’s Asian Games.

The basic goal of Go, a two-person game played with black and white pieces on either side, is to surround more territory than your opponent on the board. The game ends when both players pass their turns or one player concedes.

Go was not a medal sport at the last Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018. It was offered only once before at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou, China.

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