Swimmer Kim Woo-min on Sept. 29 raises three fingers to signify his three gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, after winning the men's 400-meter freestyle at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena. (Yonhap News)

By Koh Hyunjeong

Swimmer Kim Woo-min (Gangwon-do Province) for the men and archer Lim Si-hyeon (Korea National Sport University) for the women have been named the most valuable players (MVP) of the national team for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC) on Oct. 8 announced this at a news conference to close the competition at the committee's sports diplomacy lounge at the New Century Grand Hotel Hangzhou.

Both athletes got the most votes from Korean reporters who covered the competition in the KSOC's first voting for Korean MVPs of the Asiad.

Kim won the men's 400-m freestyle (3:44.36), 800-m freestyle (7:46:03) and 4x200-m freestyle relay (7:01:73) to become a triple gold medalist. His silver in the 1,500-m freestyle was his fourth in the competition.

Lim also struck gold three times, namely in the women's individual, mixed team and women's team events, as the first Korean archer to win three medals at an Asian Games in 37 years since the 1986 edition in Seoul.

"I'm proud that all my hard training was rewarded with this MVP award," Kim said. "I will also achieve good results at next year's Doha World Aquatics Championships and Paris Summer Olympics."

Lim added, "Since I've been named MVP, I'll achieve even better results from now on."

Badminton ace An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) received the "fighting spirit" award for winning the gold in women's singles despite injuring her knee. Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air) won an achievement award for winning the women's doubles title.

The youngest national athlete to compete in the Asian Games, 12-year-old skateboarder Moon Gang-ho, (Gangwon Roller Sports Federation), and Lee Eun-ji (Bang-San High School), a teen swimmer who clinched the bronze in the women's 100- and 200-m backstroke, each earned an encouragement award.

hjkoh@korea.kr