GWANGJU (Yonhap) — South Korea climbed to first place in the Summer Universiade medal standings Monday after a big day in shooting and judo.
The host country swept both individual and team gold medals in the women’s 25-meter pistol and the men’s 50-meter pistol at Naju Jeollanamdo Shooting Range in Naju, South Jeolla Province, southwest of the main host city of Gwangju.
Kim Ji-hye, Cho Mun-hyeon and Han Ji-young scored 1,738 points for the team gold in the morning, and then Kim claimed the individual title in the afternoon to become the first double gold medalist for South Korea.
In the men’s competition, Park Dae-hun followed suit. The trio of Park, Jang Ha-lim and Lee Tae-hwan won the men’s team gold, before Park added the individual gold later in the day.
Kim and Park are the first two double gold medalists for South Korea this year.
South Korea had set out to win four gold medals in shooting and met the goal with one productive day at the range.
The host also extended its dominance on the judo mat, as An Ba-ul picked up the men’s under-66㎏ gold medal and An Chang-rim followed up with a gold of his won in the men’s under-73㎏.
South Korea has won five gold medals in three days of judo so far.
Thanks to the big haul from the two sports, South Korea has so far claimed 10 gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals.
Japan is trailing with nine gold, six silver and nine bronze medals. China is right behind with eight gold, six silver and five bronze medals.
Elsewhere, Kim Seon-hee won silver medal in women’s sabre fencing, the country’s fifth medal in the sport.
The women’s football team defeated Ireland 3-0 to complete the group play with a perfect 3-0 record, and set up a quarterfinal showdown against France.
In baseball, South Korea suffered an 8-0 loss against Japan in the two countries’ first preliminary game. Japanese starter Yuya Yanagi tossed six shutout innings and struck out 10 South Koreans to earn the victory.
The host fared better in archery, where the recurve men’s, women’s and mixed teams all reached the final for Wednesday. There will be all-South Korean finals in the men’s and women’s individual events, too.
