Time is running out for South Korea to meet its goal of winning 10 gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
South Korean came up empty-handed Tuesday, and it hasn't won a gold since last Friday -- when Ku Bon-chan won the men's individual archery title. The country is sitting at six gold medals, along with three silver and five bronze medals. The closing ceremony for the Rio Games is Sunday.
Struggles continued in Greco-Roman wrestling, where former world champion Ryu Han-su lost to Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan 8-0 in the men's 66kg bronze medal match.
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Ryu Han-su (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald) |
Ryu lost in the quarterfinals to Migran Arutyunyan of Armenia, and then fell into repechage when Arutyunyan reached the final.
Ryu needed to win two matches there to secure one of two bronze medals in wrestling. He cleared the first hurdle in the form of Adham Ahmed Saleh Kahk of Egypt but proved to be no match against Chunayev.
Ryu was trying to win South Korea's first wrestling gold medal in Rio after Kim Hyeon-woo, a title favorite in 75kg, settled for bronze amid a judging controversy.
More losses followed in women's badminton doubles and women's volleyball.
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Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald |
Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan were eliminated in the semifinals of the women's doubles, as the No. 1-ranked Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi of Japan beat them 2-0 (21-16, 21-15).
Jung and Shin were one of five South Korean doubles teams to reach the quarterfinals, and the only one to make it to the semifinals.
On Monday, two men's doubles teams, including the top-ranked duo of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong, and one women's doubles team lost their quarterfinals matches. The mixed doubles team of Ko Sung-hyun and Kim Ha-na suffered a quarterfinals loss on Sunday.
Jung and Shin have been placed in the bronze medal match against the world No. 2 duo, Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang of China.
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Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald |
In the women's singles, Sung Ji-hyun lost in the quarterfinals to Carolina Marin of Spain 2-0 (21-12, 21-16).
In the quarterfinals of the women's volleyball, South Korea played a lethargic match as the Netherlands came out on top 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20).
Though all-world attacker Kim Yeon-koung scored a game-high 27 points, only one other player scored in double figures. The Dutch had a balanced attack with four players scoring at least 10 points, led by Lonneke Sloetjes' 23.
South Korea was trying to end a 40-year volleyball medal drought. (Yonhap).
