Kim Woo-jin completes South Korean archery title sweep with individual men’s gold

PARIS – Kim Woo-jin completed a South Korean sweep of the Paris Olympic archery titles, when he won the individual men’s gold on Aug 4 in a shoot-off against American Brady Ellison at Esplanade des Invalides.

South Korea cemented their status as archery supremos with their fifth Paris gold medal, adding to the women’s individual title and the three team golds – in men’s, women’s and mixed.

Ellison had to settle for the silver in the individual men’s event, while South Korea’s Lee Woo-seok secured the bronze.

Kim and Ellison took turns winning the first four sets. With the fifth set at 4-4, the crowd were on the edge of their seats as the pair got perfect scores to force a shoot-off. Both men fired their arrows into the middle of the target, but Kim’s was closer to the centre and won the gold.

The two archers, who have a long history of competing against each other, expressed their deep mutual respect.

“If (Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo are the best in football, then maybe we are the duo in archery,” Kim said.

The Korean archer had also knocked out defending champion Mete Gazoz 6-4 in the quarter-finals and the Turk looked devastated as his coach tried to console him.

Losing gold did not upset Ellison, a five-time Olympian, who said he valued the skills gained by competing against the world’s best, calling the process “steel sharpening steel”.

“When I go to a tournament, I know who I’m going to be shooting against,” he said. “Those are the guys I compare myself to.”

But Ellison and Kim acknowledged that Paris may not be the last time they meet.

“I think we’re going to do a rematch in LA,” Ellison said, referencing the 2028 Games.

In table tennis, Fan Zhendong clinched gold in the men’s singles, maintaining the Chinese stranglehold on the sport and ending a fairy-tale run for shock finalist Truls Moregard.

Roared on by a partisan crowd waving Chinese flags at South Paris Arena 4, world champion Fan outclassed the lower-ranked Swede 4-1 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8) in a pulsating final featuring some sensational rallies.

The 26th-ranked Moregard was seeking to become the first non-Asian man to win Olympic gold since compatriot Jan-Ove Waldner in 1992.

After sealing gold, Fan turned to his coach, who threw him in the air in triumph, the pair then grabbing a Chinese flag and acknowledging the baying crowd.

The gold brought redemption for the world No. 4, who agonisingly lost out in the final of the Tokyo singles final to compatriot Ma Long.

With 3.3 million followers on Weibo, Fan is a major celebrity at home and once had to ask his fans to restrain themselves after someone broke into his hotel room and stole his underwear.

In the bronze-medal match, home hope Felix Lebrun comfortably beat Brazil’s Hugo Calderano 4-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7, 11-6).

China are the undisputed powerhouses of the sport and have again dominated in Paris. Chen Meng took gold in the women’s singles in an all-Chinese affair against Sun Yingsha.

Wang and Sun also took home the mixed doubles gold, while China will be aiming for a title sweep when the men’s and women’s team events start on Aug 5.

In badminton, Rio 2016 singles champion Carolina Marin retired from her semi-final in floods of tears on Aug 4 after her right knee buckled in distressing scenes at Porte de La Chapelle Arena.

The fourth seed had won the first game 21-14 and was leading China’s He Bingjiao 10-6 in the second before she collapsed, clutching her leg. Marin tried to resume play, but she could barely move. Two points later, she fell to the ground again, clearly in great pain and sobbing uncontrollably.

Said coach Fernando Rivas: “Carolina knows that at an Olympic Games, you win or you lose. But not this way.”

Marin was hot favourite for the title at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 until she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury just months before the event. It was her second ACL injury.

“She was in pain, it’s a sensation that she already knew,” said Rivas, suggesting she may have suffered the same serious injury again.

China’s He will play South Korean world No. 1 An Se-young in the final. An beat Indonesia’s Gregoria Tunjung 11-21, 21-13, 21-16 in the other semi-final.

A clearly uncomfortable He, who had hugged her distraught opponent on court, said she felt “very sad” about what happened.

“She was playing perfectly well and I was very passive,” said He. “I wasn’t thinking about the final at all.”

In the men’s singles, defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark will play Thailand’s world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the final. Axelsen had to dig deep to beat India’s Lakshya Sen 22-20, 21-14, while Kunlavut overcame Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-14, 21-15 in the other semi-final.

In the men’s doubles final, Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin retained their title, beating Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China 21-17, 18-21, 21-19. Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik also kept their bronze from Tokyo, seeing off Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen of Denmark 16-21, 22-20, 21-19 in a tight affair.

At Bercy Arena, Liu Yang clinched China’s first men’s gymnastics gold of the Paris Games on Aug 4, delivering a formidable display of strength and skill to retain the rings title he won in Tokyo.

Liu, a two-time world champion on the apparatus, scored 15.300 points to lead a Chinese one-two ahead of silver medallist Zou Jingyuan (15.233), with Greece’s Rio 2016 champion Eleftherios Petrounias (15.100) taking bronze.

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour then became the first African gymnast to win an Olympic medal when the 17-year-old secured the gold with a breathtaking routine on the asymmetric bars that earned her a staggering 15.700 points.

China’s Qiu Qiyuan, the 2023 world champion, took silver after trailing Nemour by only 0.2 of a point. Sunisa Lee of the United States claimed a second successive Olympic bronze on the apparatus with 14.800 points.

In the vault, Carlos Yulo of the Philippines won gold on Aug 4, a day after claiming the floor title with 15.116 points. His nation had only ever won one gold before his exploits in Paris. Armenia’s Artur Davtyan (14.966) took silver with Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.949) bagging bronze.

Later, Cindy Ngamba guaranteed the Refugee Olympic Team their first medal in history after comfortably winning her boxing quarter-final in Paris.

Ngamba, who was born in Cameroon but sought safe haven in Britain aged 11, beat France’s Davina Michel with a unanimous points decision to reach the last four of the women’s middleweight event and win at least bronze. She will next face Panama’s Atheyna Bylon.

Meanwhile, organisers cancelled the Aug 4 swimming training session for the triathlon mixed relay event after recent heavy rain affected water quality levels in the Seine river.

The decision was made late on Aug 3 after tests showed water quality did not meet the required threshold following rain on July 31 and Aug 1.

The mixed relay race is scheduled for Aug 5. REUTERS, AFP