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By Yi Whan-woo
The South Korean taekwondo team suffered a humiliating defeat on the first day of the event during the Asian Games, Wednesday, settling for one silver, while two other athletes were ousted in the preliminary round.
The result dented the nation’s reputation as the home of the sport, while drawing attention to the poor performances put up by the Korean practitioners in the four-day event.
The athletes were passive in their approach, earning points mostly from their opponents being penalized, including Park Yong-hyun in the men’s 87-kilogram who lost 3-4 in the final.
Park earned the only one point on his own in the second of the three rounds against Iran’s Yousef Karami.
After a scoreless bout in the first round, the Iranian put pressure on Park with three points and another one in the following round. Karami conceded two penalty points that gave the helpless South Korean the appearance of a close match.
Jang Kyeng-hun in the men’s 74-kilogram and Hwang Mi-na in the women’s 46-kilogram class were a shock disappointing elimination in the beginning.
While the host nation of the Guangzhou Asiad was criticized for abrupt changes in the event’s schedule as the decision could affect players’ adjustment to the conditions, the timing of the eliminated pair’s matches was unaltered.
Jang suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Alireza Nassrazadany of Iran, only retrieving a point because the Iranian was penalized. Nassrazadany dominated by earning two points in the first and last round in the three-round bout.
Hwang was up next, suffering a 7-2 loss to Taiwan’s Huang Hsien-yung.
The match was similar to Jang’s as the South Korean did not earn a single point on her own and rather benefitted from two penalty points given against Huang. Hwang was also penalized a point in a match she never looked like winning.
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