[Yonhap News Photo]
More than two-thirds of the way through the competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, South Korea is in danger of missing its gold medal target, with the prospects of the remaining events not offering a rosy picture.
Through Tuesday's events, South Korea has won six gold medals, along with three silver and five bronze medals. South Korea has set out to grab at least 10 gold medals and finish inside the top 10 for the fourth consecutive Olympics.
The closing ceremony is Sunday, and things haven't quite gone the way the country had hoped so far, as one medal contender after another has fallen by the wayside.
Four of the gold medals came from archery, where South Korea completed the historic sweep. Shooter Jin Jong-oh retained his 50m pistol gold medal, and epee fencer Park Sang-young came out of nowhere to take the men's individual gold medal.
The last gold medal for South Korea came last Friday, when Ku Bon-chan won the men's individual archery title.'
South Korea was counting on at least two gold medals from judo but came up with only two silvers and one bronze from the mat. The nation boasted four No. 1-ranked men heading into Rio, but only two of them won a medal -- An Ba-ul with silver in -66kg and Gwak Dong-han in -90kg.
South Korea won six fencing medals at the 2012 London Olympics but left Rio with just two -- a gold by Park and a bronze by Kim Jung-hwan in the men's individual sabre. Returning medalists from London, including Kim Ji-yeon in women's sabre, Gu Bon-gil in men's sabre and Shin A-lam in women's epee, all missed the podium.
Kim Jong-hyun was a surprise silver medalist in the men's 50m rifle prone shooting, but he missed the final in his main event, the 50m rifle 3 positions. Before winning his 50m pistol title, Jin finished fifth in the 10m air pistol, where he was the defending champion.
South Korea is in danger of getting shutout in badminton. Only one of five doubles pairs -- Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan in the women's doubles -- has reached as far as the bronze medal match, while the other four, including the No. 1-ranked men's tandem of Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong, lost in the quarterfinals.
Sung Ji-hyun lost in the quarterfinals in the women's singles. Son Wan-ho is still alive in the men's singles, but his quarterfinals opponent on Wednesday is Chen Long, the world No. 2 from China whom Son has beaten just four times in 13 meetings.
Greco-Roman wrestling has produced just one bronze so far, and it could be the only medal from the sport for South Korea. Kim Hyeon-woo, the 2012 gold medalist in 66kg, lost in the round of 16 in the 75kg with a controversial call. He managed to grab a bronze medal, though it was still a disappointing result for the title hopeful.'
South Korean judoka An Chang-rim stays on the mat after losing to Dirk van Tichelt of Belgium in the round of 16 in the men's -73kg at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Aug. 8, 2016. (Yonhap)
Ryu Han-su, former world champion in 66kg, lost in the quarters to fall into repechage, and came up one victory shy of winning a bronze medal.
South Korea has also struggled in team sports. The men's football team was eliminated in the quarterfinals, as was the women's volleyball team. The women's field hockey and the women's handball team didn't even make it out of the group stage.
Of the remaining events, taekwondo and women's golf should offer South Korea the best chance for additional medals, if not necessarily gold.
South Korea will field five athletes in taekwondo, four of them with at least one world championship and two of them, Lee Dae-hoon and Cha Dong-min on the men's side, with an Olympic medal.
The increasing parity in the traditional Korean martial art may be a cause for concern: At the 2012 Olympics, eight taekwondo gold medals went to eight countries, and 14 countries won at least one medal.
(Yonhap)
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
