One of the biggest sports events in Korea in 2023 is the Hangzhou Asian Games held in China in September. In this tournament, which was postponed for a year due to Corona 19, the Taegeuk warriors are sweating heavily from the new year with the goal of recapturing second place.
The 19th Hangzhou Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China from September 23rd to October 8th. It is the third Asian Summer Games to be held in China, following Beijing in 1990 and Guangzhou in 2010. A total of 482 gold medals are at stake in 40 events. Amid the strength of the host country China, Korea is expected to compete fiercely with Japan for second place. In the 2018 Jakarta/Palembang Games, Korea set out with the goal of winning second place for the sixth time in a row, but gave up second place to Japan after 24 years and fell to third place. In this tournament, the goal is to recapture 2nd place.
In this Asian Games, which is the prelude to the 2024 Paris Olympics, sports stars that Korea expects will be dispatched. In particular, attention is focused on the gold medal challenge of Woo Sang-hyeok (27, Yongin City Hall) in track and field and Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon-do Office) in swimming management.
Woo Sang-hyeok heralded a ‘great season’ by setting a new Korean record (winner) of 2m36 at the Czech Justopece indoor competition on February 6 last year. On February 16, she reached the top in Banska Bistrica (2m35) in Slovakia, and in March, at the World Indoor Athletics Championships (2m34) in Belgrade, Serbia, she became the first Korean to win the title. Woo Sang-hyeok, who ended 2022 as No. 1 in the men’s high jump world rankings, started 2023 as No. 1 in the world rankings. Woo Sang-hyeok, who won silver medals at the 2018 Jakarta and Palembang Games, aims to win the men’s high jump gold medal in 21 years since Lee Jin-taek (winner at the 1998 Bangkok and 2002 Busan Games). 온라인바카라
Hwang Seon-woo rewrote the history of Korean swimming by setting new Korean records five times, including one silver medal, at the World Aquatics Championships held in June last year. In the men’s 200m freestyle final at the Short Course World Championships held in Melbourne, Australia in December, he won the gold medal with a new Asian record, achieving his second consecutive victory. Hwang Seon-woo showed strong confidence, saying, “I think I will be able to win many medals in swimming at this Asian Games.”
In addition, in archery, Korea’s ‘filial piety’, Ansan (22, Kwangju Bank) and Kim Je-deok (19, Gyeongbuk Ilgo) will participate to reproduce the glory of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Artistic gymnastics Yeo Jeong (21, Jecheon City Hall) and Ryu Seong-hyeon (21, Korea National University of Physical Education) are also raising expectations in this event.
Taegeuk warriors are preparing for the competition at the Jincheon National Athletes’ Village in Chungcheongbuk-do. According to the training planning department of the Korea Olympic Committee on the 20th, 11 sports including golf, judo, and modern pentathlon have already been selected as representatives for the Asian Games. For the remaining events, representative players will be selected in turn from the end of January. From June to July, more than 900 players and coaches will enter the village to enhance the atmosphere.