The South Korean paddlers made the history here on Tuesday as their
women doubles pair Lee Eun-sil/Seok Eun-mi walked tightrope to beat
the powerful Chinese duo Zhang Yining/Li Nan 4-3 for the gold medal
in the Asian Games.
By
this victory, the South Koreans have bagged both Asiad golds in the
table tennis doubles events, something they had never achieved ever
since China's participation in the Asian Games in the 1970s.
Two South Korean men's doubles pairs, scoring a double victory
against the Chinese in Monday's semifinals, have secured the other
gold for the hosts.
Meanwhile, the Chinese table tennis team, boasting world No.1 and
No.2 on both men's and women's rankings, has suffered its worst
defeat in the Asiad.
In
the five events so far played, the Chinese, winners of six golds in
the previous Asian Games in Bangkok, only managed to defend their
men's team title.
"We lost in the women's team competition due to a lack of faith.But
we had a strong faith in today's final and as a result we won,"
said Lee after the match.
Both players and their coach, former Olympic women's doubles
champion Hyun Jung-wha, burst into joyful tears as soon as the hard
battle was over. They hugged together in a small circle, totally
ignoring photographers and journalists around them.
Hyun appeared so emotional that she couldn't utter a word when
being approached and asked for comment by some Chinese
correspondents. Cupping her mouth with her right hand, she was
escorted out of the court by team officials.
The South Korean pair came back from an almost impossible situation
of trailing 1-3 in the first four games, taking back two games by
11-8, 11-9 to even the score before winning the decider 12-10.
The Chinese women also shed tears after the match. Winners of four
golds in Bangkok, they have so far failed to claim any title in the
three already finished events of women's team, mixed doubles and
women's doubles. With team ace and world No.1 Wang Nan totally out
of form, their chance for defending the singles gold also appeared
slim.
At
a press conference following the medal-awarding ceremony, the other
South Korean coach Lee You-sung praised his players for their
superb performance on court.
"They have practiced extremely hard after losing the team
competition," said Lee. "We have faced so many strong players
from
China, including Chinese Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei, but we beat
them all to win."
This victory will greatly boost the self-confidence of the South
Korean women paddlers, who were just criticized on Monday by some
domestic media as "incompetent", he added.
China has expected some difficulty in the women's doubles event,as
South Korea has locked their aim at this Asiad gold for a long time
and their doubles pairs have practiced longer and also have richer
experience.
However, the South Korean coach pointed out that Lee/Seok was not
the main doubles pair in the team. The team's top pair, Ryu
Ji-hae/Kim Moo-kyo were beaten 1-4 by Zhang and Li in a Monday
semifinal.
But Lee and Seok, also trailing 1-2 in the early stage of the other
semifinal, struck back bravely and confidently to overcome China's
Wang Nan/Guo Yan 4-2.
Shortly after the women's doubles final, Lee Chul-seung/Ryu
Seung-min beat their teammates Kim Taek-soo/Oh Sang-eun for the
men's doubles gold.
Matches of the men's and women's singles will be played later
Tuesday, with the last four of both events decided by the end of
the day.
(Xinhua News
Agency October 8, 2002)