South Korea’s men’s and women’s go teams beat ‘nemesis’ China and Japan to move to the top of the qualification table at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
South Korea’s men’s and women’s national teams cruised to four straight wins over China and Japan in the third and fourth rounds
of qualifying for the men’s and women’s team events at the 19th Asian Games at the China Origin Bunyuan International
Exchange Center in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday.
The men’s team showed off their firepower with a 5-0 victory over Japan in the third round of qualifying, followed by a 4-1 win
over China in the fourth round.
In what was billed as the biggest matchup of the tournament, Shin Shin-seo 9 dan and Koo Jae 9 dan faced off against each other,
with Shin Shin-seo 9 dan winning with black in 135 moves. Park Jung-hwan 9th dan, Yang Dingxin 9th dan, Shin Min-joon 9th
dan, Yang Kai-wen 9th dan, and Kim Myung-hoon 9th dan added to the points with victories over Mi Witing 9th dan.
In the women’s team event, Choi Jung 9 and Oh Yoo Jin 9 shined. Choi Jung 9th and Oh Yujin 9th clinched a 2-1 victory for their
team in the third round against China, defeating Li He 5th and Wu Zhiying 7th respectively. In the subsequent match between
Korea and Japan, they continued their dominance with wins over Rina Fujisawa 6th and Risa Ueno 2nd.
In the men’s and women’s team competitions, South Korea defeated major nations China, Japan, and Chinese Taipei, giving them
the green light for gold.
Mok Jin-seok
Head Coach of the Asian Games Go Team, said, “The individual results are disappointing, but the players are preparing well for
the team event, which is right around the corner. Shin Shin-seo must have felt the pain of losing her individual match, but she will
not carry that pain into the team event, and the atmosphere within the team is good.”
“We are paying a lot of attention to make sure that the players feel comfortable and can showcase their skills without any pressure.
Today’s matches against China and Japan were very important, not only to get out of the gate, but also to decide the main draw. I’m happy the guys did a good job.”
The men’s five-man team will play six rounds of qualifying and the women’s three-man team will play five rounds of qualifying to
determine the top four nations for the finals. The finalists will compete for the gold medal on February 2-3 next month.
Korean go was first included in the Asian Games in 2010 in Guangzhou. The sport was subsequently dropped from the program at
Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018, before making a comeback in Hangzhou after a 13-year absence.
South Korea swept the go events at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
Winning three golds and one bronze, to dominate host China. At the time, China won three silver medals, while Japan and Chinese
Taipei took home one bronze each. This time around in Hangzhou, the men’s individual and team events, as well as the women’s
team event, were reorganized. Unlike 13 years ago, there were no mixed pairs and a new men’s individual event.
South Korea, which finished the men’s individual competition with a bronze medal for Shin Shin-seo 9, will now go for the two
remaining gold medals in the men’s and women’s team events. The time limit for all nations will be one hour and three 30-second
second reads, with the dumbbells following the Chinese rule of seven groups. 스포츠토토링크