Korea won a series of gold medals at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon over the weekend. On September 20 and 21, Korean fencers won four gold medals in men's épée, women's sabre, women's foil and men's sabre, as well as three silver and one bronze, winning medals in all categories in which they competed. In judo, Korean athletes won five medals, including three gold medals, across five weight classes.

In the men's sabre final, held at the Goyang Gymnasium in Gyeonggi-do (Gyeonggi Province) on September 21, Gu Bon-gil and Kim Jung-hwan, who won a gold medal in team fencing together at the 2012 London Olympic Games, faced off against each other. Gu defeated Kim 15-13 and won a gold medal while Kim won the silver. In the women's foil final, Jeon Hee-sook beat Le Huilin of China 15-6. Nam Hyun-hee, another Korean fencer, met Jeon at the semifinal and lost 7-15 and went home with the bronze medal.

A day earlier, Lee Ra-jin beat Kim Ji-yeon, a London Olympic gold medalist, 15-11 in the women's sabre final. Park Kyoung-doo beat Jung Jin-sun 15-9 and won a gold medal in the men's épée final. The silver medal went to Jung.





Over the weekend, all eight fencers competed in the individual fencing categories, in which two fencers, one from each country, took part. They all won medals by taking advantage of the "foot fencing" technique. Foot fencing refers to a fast, crisscrossed step. It was designed to make up for weaknesses of the Korean players. It increases the number of steps up to about 80 per minute. The players complemented the use of this technique with quick hand movements and were able to win a series of medals at the 17th Asian Games.

Moving on to judo, Korea got three gold medals in the martial art over the weekend. Korean judo players reached the finals in four of the weekend's five weight classes for both men and women at the Dowon Gymnasium in Incheon on September 21. They won medals in all five classes.

The gold-medal winners were Kim Jae-bum, Joung Dawoon and Kim Seong-yeon in the men's 81 kilogram, women's 63 kilogram and women's 70 kilogram classes, respectively. It was their first gold medal ever for Joung and Kim Seong-yeon. Kim Jan-di won the silver medal in the women's' 57 kilogram class while Bang Gui-man obtained bronze in the men's 73 kilogram class.



Joung Dawoon was the first to win a gold medal in judo at the 2014 Asian Games. At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Joung narrowly lost the match for the bronze medal and shed tears. After building her stamina over the last two years, Joung had a tight race against Yang Junxia of China, even reaching the "golden score." Joung finally won with a shoulder throw. A golden score is an extended game when two players cannot finish their match in the allotted time. The game went to sudden death, ending when Joung scored a point.

"With the gold medal I won at the Asian Games, I am going to aim for another gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio in Brazil two years from now," said Joung.

Kim Jae-bum has now won gold medals in two consecutive Asian Games. Kim achieved a grand slam in judo with the 2012 London Olympic Games by winning gold in the Olympics, in international championships, in the Asian Games and in Asian championships. Kim again has rewritten Korean judo history.

"A grand slam in judo is something that only 1 percent of the world's population can achieve," he said. "I'm going to be in the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent. I don't want to lose any games in the future," he said.



Kim had a series of misfortunes recently, including suffering a torn ligament in a left hand finger during practice. In the semifinal, Kim and Keita Nagashima reached a golden score, but Kim won the game by shido. In the final, Kim narrowly defeated Elias Nacif from Lebanon, also by shido.

"I postponed the first birthday party for my daughter until September 4, after the Asian Games," Kim said. "I am glad that I will be able to give my daughter a gold medal as a present."

By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
jun2@korea.kr