Ham Sang-myeong, the lone South Korean boxer competing at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, has remained upbeat despite lacking a sparring partner.

The bantamweight (-56kg) fighter has traveled to Brazil with only his coach, Park Si-heon, by his side. Ham only secured his Olympic berth on July 19 -- he'd been eliminated early in the Olympic qualifying tournament but moved up when a qualified boxer withdrew -- and was forced to prepare for Rio without a training partner.

Reached at Riocentro-Pavilion 5 on Monday, Ham was sparring with a Filipino boxer in the 49kg class. Over the weekend, Ham said he trained with a Taiwanese boxer and a Thai partner.

Though the situation has been frustrating, Ham has tried to look on the bright side, grateful that he even has a chance to compete at all here.

"It's not fun training alone, but it's actually easier to control my pace," Ham said. "And I think I can concentrate better alone. And these other boxers (from different weight classes) have given me words of encouragement, and it means a lot to me."

The draw for men's boxing is Thursday. If he gets a bye, he will start in the round of 16.

Ham said even though he doesn't have any teammate, he doesn't think he's all alone in Rio.

"Others who didn't make the Olympics have been cheering me on, and I think they're here with me (in spirit)," Ham said. "For an athlete, the Olympics is a dream come true. I was fortunate enough to realize that goal. Now I've set my sights on an Olympic medal as a new goal. I'll regard my first match as the gold medal fight."



By Yonhap News