Koreans enjoy benign conditions in women's golf

South Korean stars took advantage of relatively benign conditions in the first round of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic women's golf tournament on Wednesday.Park In-bee and Kim Sei-young are tied for second at five-under 66 after the first day at the 6,245-yard Olympic Golf Course. Both players picked up five birdies against no bogeys to sit one behind the leader, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand. Golf player Park In-bee (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Park, former world No. 1 who has dropped to No. 5 wh

Aug. 18, 2016

Table tennis youngsters learn valuable lessons from Olympic debuts

After his team lost to Germany in Wednesday's bronze medal match for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic men's team table tennis, South Korean Jeoung Young-sik found himself on the wrong end of history.The loss meant South Korea had failed to win a table tennis medal for the first time since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1988.While it's not entirely Jeoung's fault that South Korea is leaving Rio empty-handed, the 26-year-old said he wants to atone for the missed opportunity at the 2020 Toky

Aug. 18, 2016

Korea loses in bronze medal match in men's team table tennis

South Korea finished just shy of a medal in the men's table tennis team event at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Wednesday.Germany defeated South Korea 3-1 in the bronze medal contest at Riocentro-Pavilion 3, taking two singles and one doubles match.South Korea claimed one singles match.The men's team held South Korea's last hope for a medal in Rio, with all the singles players and the women's team having failed to deliver.This marks the first time South Korea has failed to win a medal in table t

Aug. 18, 2016

Medal pressure too much for S. Korean badminton player

The pressure to deliver a badminton medal for South Korea at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics was too much to bear for Son Wan-ho on Wednesday.The world No. 8 was eliminated in the men's singles quarterfinals, as Chen Long of China, world No. 2, beat him 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 21-11). Badminton player Son Wan-ho (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Son was the last South Korean player alive in the singles. On Tuesday, Sung Ji-hyun was knocked out of the quarterfinals in the women's singles. These results leav

Aug. 18, 2016

Korean man eliminated in badminton singles quarters

South Korean Son Wan-ho was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the men's badminton singles on Wednesday at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Badminton player Son Wan-ho (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Chen Long of China defeated Son 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 21-11) at Riocentro-Pavilion 4, stripping South Korea of its last player left in the singles.On Tuesday in women's singles, Sung Ji-hyun lost her quarterfinals to world No. 1 Carolina Marin.Chen scored the first three points of the opening game and quic

Aug. 18, 2016

London taekwondo silver medalist to pursue gold in Rio

South Korean taekwondo fighter Lee Dae-hoon settled for silver at the 2012 London Olympics in the men's -58kg class, despite his favorite status. left: Taekwondo fighter Lee Dae-hoon (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)For the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Lee moved up to -68kg, and is still the title favorite. He will have a chance to finally live up to the tag on Thursday.Lee has often said he struggled so much to keep his weight down in London that he barely remembers anything else about his first Oly

Aug. 18, 2016

Fencer promotes 'I can do it' mantra in his homeland

Sabre fencer Kim Jung-hwan (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)South Korean fencer Park Sang-young said Wednesday he wants to see more people using the "I can do it" mantra to overcome troubled situations, just like he did at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Fencer Park Sang-young (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Park defeated Geza Imre of Hungary 15-14 in the thrilling final to win an unexpected gold medal in men's individual epee at the Rio Games. Down 14-10 with less than three minutes remaining, he r

Aug. 18, 2016

[Newsmaker] Runners help each other after fall, lifting Olympic spirit

New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin was lying on the track, dazed after a heavy fall and with her hopes of an Olympic medal seemingly over. Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder and a voice in her ear: "Get up. We have to finish this.''      It was American Abbey D'Agostino, offering to help.      "I was like, 'Yup, yup, you're right. This is the Olympics Games. We have to finish this,'" Hamblin said.      It was a scene to warm the hearts of fans during a qualifying heat of the women's 5,000

Aug. 17, 2016

Badminton singles player unable to change mood of slumping team

With the South Korean badminton team mired in a collective slump, it fell on Sung Ji-hyun, a women's singles player, to try and change the mood for the better with a win.And beating the world No. 1, Carolina Marin of Spain, in Tuesday's quarterfinals would have done the job, but Marin was too much for Sung to handle, as she prevailed 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) in just 45 minutes."I know we've not played well here, but I tried not to think too much about it," the emotional Sung said afterward. "I wanted

Aug. 17, 2016

Struggles continue in wrestling, badminton; volleyball

Time is running out for South Korea to meet its goal of winning 10 gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.South Korean came up empty-handed Tuesday, and it hasn't won a gold since last Friday -- when Ku Bon-chan won the men's individual archery title. The country is sitting at six gold medals, along with three silver and five bronze medals. The closing ceremony for the Rio Games is Sunday.Struggles continued in Greco-Roman wrestling, where former world champion Ryu Han-su lost to Rasul Chuna

Aug. 17, 2016

Greco-Roman title hopeful finishes out of medal

Korean Greco-Roman wrestling title hopeful Ryu Han-su came up short of a medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Tuesday.Park Hae-mook/The Korea HeraldRyu lost to Rasul Chunayev of Azerbaijan 8-0 in the bronze medal match for the men's 66kg event at Carioca Arena 2.The 2013 world champion had fallen to the third-place match after losing to Migran Arutyunyan of Armenia in the quarterfinals.When Arutyunyan reached the final, Ryu got a reprieve and entered repechage, where he needed to win two matc

Aug. 17, 2016

Last Korean eliminated in badminton women's singles

The lone South Korean woman competing in badminton singles at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics got knocked out of the quarterfinals on Tuesday.Sung Ji-hyun was no match against world No. 1 Carolina Marin, who dispatched the seventh-ranked South Korean 2-0 (21-12, 21-16).Park Hae-mook/The Korea HeraldSung dropped to 1-6 all-time against Marin.Sung was the only South Korean alive in the quarterfinals in the women's singles. Sung went down 6-1 to start the first game, but fought back to make it 8-6 for

Aug. 17, 2016

Korean captain, coach lament poor receive game in loss

The losing coach and captain of the South Korean Olympic women's volleyball team agreed subpar serve receive was their greatest undoing in the quarterfinals loss to the Netherlands on Tuesday.The Netherlands beat South Korea 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25,25-20) in a match that wasn't nearly as close as the set scores indicate. South Korea was often sloppy on both ends, and the Dutch, though shaky themselves at times, capitalized on it.South Korean captain Kim Yeon-koung, who led all players with 27 p

Aug. 17, 2016

All Korean female golfers 'in top form,' says coach

South Korean Olympic women's golf coach Pak Se-ri sounded confident in her team's medal chances on Tuesday, saying each one of her four players is peaking at the right time. Coach Park Se-ri (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)The World Golf Hall of Famer got in a practice round at the par-71 Olympic Golf Course with her players a day before the opening around. South Korea is represented by Park In-bee (world No. 5), Kim Sei-young (No. 6), Chun In-gee (No. 8) and Amy Yang (No. 9).They have combined

Aug. 17, 2016

Korean women defeated in volleyball quarters

The teams traded points early on, before the Netherlands started to pull ahead. Up 8-7, Lonneke Sloetjes and Judith Pietersen went to work on offense and staked the Dutch to a 17-11 lead.Sloetjes, who scored nine points in the opening set alone, was too much for South Korea, and soon it was 23-16 for the Netherlands.Park Hae-mook/The Korea HeraldSouth Korea made a late push with three straight points before Sloetjes' spike and Pietersen's ace ended the set for the Netherlands at 25-19.Tied at 3-

Aug. 17, 2016

Banned Korean wrestling coach permitted back in seat

 A ban on two South Korean Greco-Roman wrestling coaches was partially  lifted on Tuesday, allowing one of them to take his usual seat by the mat for competitions.Coach An Han-bong (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Coach Park Chi-ho (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Head coach An Han-bong and his assistant Park Chi-ho were sanctioned on Sunday for going up on the mat in protest of a call during a round-of-16 match between South Korean Kim Hyeon-woo and Roman Vlasov of Russia in the men's 75kg. The S

Aug. 17, 2016

First day of competition for taekwondo, women's golf

Taekwondo and women's golf, in which South Korea is counting on multiple medals, will get underway on Wednesday.A pair of two-time world champions will be in action in taekwondo: Kim Tae-hun in the men's 58kg and Kim So-hui in the women's 49kg.Kim Tae-hun won the 2013 and 2015 world titles in addition to the 2014 Asian Games gold medal and the 2014 Asian championship. An Olympic gold is the only missing piece in his glowing resume.Kim So-hui was a teenage sensation when she won her first world c

Aug. 17, 2016

North Korea's Choe didn't meet with Brazilian interim president: report

A close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Choe Ryong-hae, did not meet with Brazil's interim President Michel Temer during his stay in Rio de Janeiro, a U.S.-based media report said Tuesday, in another testimony to North Korea's false report of Choe's activities there.The Voice of America  quoted former Brazilian Ambassador to North Korea Roberto Colin as saying that Choe and Temer never met.Brazil's interim president Michel Temer (AP Yonhap)On Aug. 5, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central

Aug. 17, 2016