No Medals for South Korean Athletes on Rio Olympics' 3rd Day
On the third day of the 2016 Rio Olympics, South Korean athletes were not able to clinch medals on their respective categories, placing the country on the eighth spot in the Olympic medal standings with two gold, two silver, and one bronze.
The expectations on bringing home medals on day 3 of the Olympics, especially in judo and fencing, were crushed when the athletes suffer shocking defeats as the top athletes were eliminated in the early rounds of their events on Tuesday.
According to a report from the Korea Times, An-Chang Rim, who competed in the men's 73-kg class in judo, lost to Belgium's Dirk van Tichelt by a waza-ari (half-point) in round 16. Japan's Shohei Ono, An's longtime rival, clinched the gold medal for this division.
The world's No. 2 in the women's 57-kg class, Kim Jan Di, was also unsuccessful in her Rio Olympics journey when she lost to Rafaela Silva of Brazil in round 16.
In archery, Kim Woo Jin was ousted by Indonesia's Riau Ega Agatha (2-6) in the second round of the men's individual event. Kim had an early advantage by winning the first set, but Agatha won the next three sets. Kim is one of the men's archery trio that gave South Korea its first gold medal in the ongoing Olympics.
Meanwhile, Kim Bo Bae of the women's archery team defeated Kenya's Shehzana Anwar in the first round by a set score of 7-1, and Ukraine's Veronika Marchenko with 6-2. Ki will compete for the gold medal on Thursday night.
The South Korean fencing team, who took home two gold medals from the 2012 London Games, were also unsuccessful in their Rio Olympics campaign.
Kim Ji Yeon, the reigning Olympic sabre champion lost to Loreta Gulotta of Brazil by 15-13 in the round of 16. Her teammates Seo Ji Yeon and Hwang Seon A also lost in the round of 32.
Kim Seo Yeong of the South Korean swimming team failed to go the finals after placing 12th among 16 swimmers by recording 2 minutes 12.15 seconds.
In table tennis, Lee Sang Su was ousted in the round 3 of the men's singles while Jeong Young Sik lost to world No. 1 Ma Long in the fourth. Both Suh Hyo Won and Jeon Ji Hee were eliminated in the fourth round of women's singles.
The South Korean women's volleyball team lost their Pool A preliminary game with Russia (1-3). The women's handball team lost to Sweden (28-31) and the hockey team was defeated by Netherlands (0-4).