South Korea grabbed four sailing golds and one bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games Tuesday, after surprise victories in the sport that remains largely a niche in the country.
With 13 medals decided in sailing at Wangsan Sailing Marina in this port city, Park Sung-bin won gold in the men's optimist dinghy race after earning 27 net points and discarding 16 penalized points.
The 14-year-old skipper became the youngest gold medalist in the host country's 831-member delegation.
After 12 races in seven days, Park outpaced Malaysia's Muhammad Dhiauddin Bin Rozaini with 31 penalties. Suthon Yampinid of Thailand took bronze with 36 penalties.
"Today's wind condition was my favorite as it was about five meters per second," Park said after the 12th race.
Park, who began sailing five years ago at the advice of his father, said that he had the "feeling of the victory."
The optimist sailing class is for children under 15 years old.
Young skippers usually move onto lasers or 420s categories when they get older.
Ha Jee-min also won the gold for South Korea in the men's laser race held at the same venue, successfully defending his Asiad title. The 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist in the same event received 17 penalties after 12 races over seven days.
The silver went to Malaysia's Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy with 23 penalties and the bronze to Singapore's Cheng Xinru Colin with 31 penalties.
"I will prepare for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro," Ha said Ha after the victory.
Ha also appealed for more financial support for sailing, saying, "It has been not easy training as conditions in the Republic of Korea (South Korea) is not good compared to other countries."
In the men's 470 two-person dinghy event, the host country's duo of Kim Chang-ju and Kim Ji-hoon claimed gold, after gaining 24 penalties in 12 races, edging out Japan's Kazuto Doi and Kimihiko Imamura by one notch.
China's Lan Hao and Wang Chao earned the bronze medal with 35 penalties.
The two gold medalists expressed happiness as they had defeated the Japanese duo in such neck-and-neck races.
"I am so happy for winning against the Japanese athletes who rank eighth in the world," Kim Chang-ju said.
Another men's duo of Kim Keun-soo and Song Min-jae won the gold medal in the hobie-16 open multihull category. The pair received 18 penalties after 12 races, six less than Thai brothers Damrongsak and Kitsada Vongtim.
Tong Yui Shing and Tong Kit Fong of Hong Kong took bronze with 27 penalties.
In the women's 420 two-person dinghy event, the duo of Lee Na-kyung and Choi Seo-eun grabbed the bronze, trailing Singapore's Lim Min Kimberly and Siew Kiah Hui Savannah, and Malaysia's Sallahuddin Umi Norwahida Binti and Jamil Nuraisyah Binti.
A total of 14 golds are up for grabs in sailing in Incheon. (Yonhap)
