It is Day 2 of the largest sporting event in Asia, the 17th Asian Games (Asiad) which is being held in Incheon, South Korea. The Korean nationals have won medals for shooting, fencing, and even wushu. As of now Korea is ranked 1st place in the entire tournament with 7 gold medals along with 5 silver and bronze medals, followed by China which currently has 6 gold medals. Many Korean nationals who have not been able to receive much attention before the 2014 Asiad were able to surprise sports fans all over the Asia through their performances.
Korea’s first gold medal was won in a sport that many sports fans did not even realize was an official Olympic sport that was officially recognized by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). 20-year-old Haseung Lee from Suwon won gold medal for men’s wushu at the Go-Indol Sports Arena. Lee received a score of 5.00 and 2.00 for quality of techniques and difficulty which were perfect scores for both categories. He even received 2.71 for performance, a higher score than any of his competitors.
It turns out that Lee was not completely unfamiliar to Korean sports fans. In 2008, 14-year-old Lee was invited to perform in the popular Korean talent show on SBS TV called “Star King” which is still one of the most viewed TV serials in Korea. “Star King” is a show that features people with diverse talents. At the time Haseung Lee was cast with the title, “Young Wushu Master”. When people were reminded of the athlete’s appearance on “Star King” 6 years ago, he began to receive even more attention.
Another new sports star that captured the attention of Korean fans was Cheong-yong Kim, a member of Korea’s national shooting team who specializes in 10 meter pistol shooting. 17-year-old Kim who currently attends Heong-Duk High School has earned 2 gold medals for men’s single 10 meter pistol shooting, and men’s team 10 meters, defeating all the Chinese Olympic stars. Jong-oh Jin, who for the longest time was considered Korea’s greatest pistol shooter and already crowned Olympic gold medalist for both Beijing and London happily congratulated Kim and announced the arrival of a new star.
Korean nationals have shown stunning performances in other events including fencing and cycling. With still 17 days left in the Incheon Asian Games, many sports fans across Asia are waiting for their favorite sports and athletes compete for their country. One of the most anticipated events is men’s free style swimming, where the titans Korea’s “Marine Boy” Taehwan Park and China’s Sun Yang will be competing.
Another popular event for Korea is the baseball tournament, where the Koreans are favorites to win the gold medal. The Korean national team which is composed of mainly KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) star players will be going up against Thailand, Hong Kong, and eventually Taiwan whose national team is made up of CPBL (Chinese Pro Baseball League) star players and Minor League Baseball players.
