South Korean gymnasts Lee Sang-wook and Yun Na-rae won bronze medals in the men's and women's individual all-around finals at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
Lee scored a total of 87.200 points from the floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar, giving South Korea its first Asiad medal in the men's individual all-around in 12 years.
Yuya Kamoto and Masayoshi Yamamoto, both of Japan, took the gold and silver. Kamoto scored 87.950 points and Yamamoto earned
87.500 points. Kamoto led the field in the floor exercise, rings and parallel bars, while Yamamoto posted the top scores in pommel horse and vault.
Lee, who was a qualifer underdog with an eight-place finish, stunned his Chinese and Japanese rivals and South Korea's Park Min-soo, who had largely been considered the gold medal favorite for the host nation. Lee admitted to the unexpected nature of his win.
"To be honest, I wasn't expecting a medal since there are so many great gymnasts (from all over the continent) and I'm on the older side, too," the 28-year-old told reporters. "I was just trying to do my job and got lucky."
Lee, whose best performance had been a team silver at the Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in 2008, brought the spectators to a nail-biting suspense after his solid performance on the horizontal bar and a trip-up by his Chinese contender, Huang Yuguo. It was a moment when gold was within reach depending on how the Japanese fared. But Japan's Kamoto and Yamamoto scored 14.400 points and 14.450 points on the horizontal bar, respectively, reclaiming their top two spots.
Lee, however, said he was happy with the results.
"I've never felt this way before," he said. "I want to thank the spectators and my coaches for helping me feel this way."
South Korea's Park finished 10th while battling an injury to his right biceps. He only scored 82.300 points.
In the women's all-around final, South Korea's Yun Na-rae finished third with 55.000 points, winning the country's first medal in the discipline since it first entered the Asian Games in 1974. (Yonhap)
