‘Athletic hero’ Gyeonggi Province swept the opening day of the 104th National Games with a flurry of gold medals in judo, weightlifting, fencing and cycling, ending its bid for a second consecutive title.
The ‘defending champions’ swept nine gold medals in the judo collegiate division, where they are looking to win their 23rd consecutive title, four in weightlifting and two each in cycling and fencing on the opening day of the Games on Wednesday to take their pre-event tally to 22 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals, ahead of Seoul (10 gold, 10 silver, 11 tie) and Chungcheongnam-do (8 gold, 7 silver, 9 tie).
In the collegiate judo competition, Ha Jung-woo (Yongin University) won the men’s 60-kilogram final by defeating Lee Hyun-seung (Gangwon National University) in a pressing bout, while Ahn Jae-hong (Yongin University) won gold in the 66-kilogram category by defeating his teammate Doo Min-jae (Jeonbuk National University) by foul.
In the men’s 73-kilogram category, Lee Eun-gyeol (Yongin University) defeated Bae Dong-hyun (Korea Gymnastics University, Seoul) in a thigh hold to win gold, while national team member Lee Jun-hwan (Yongin University) pinned Yoo Min-woo (Kookmin University, Incheon) in the final with a half takedown. They were joined on the podium by Kim Se-hyun in the men’s 100 kg, Hwang Su-ryeon in the women’s 52 kg, Kim Joo-hee in the 57 kg, Park Se-eun in the 70 kg and Kim Min-ju in the 78 kg.
In weightlifting, Kim Ye-bin (Gyeonggi Gyeonggi High School) won two gold medals in the girls’ 55kg category with 97kg and 173kg, respectively, and Jeon Yoo-bin (Gyeonggi Gyeonggi High School) won two gold medals in the 76kg category with 120kg and 211kg.
In addition, Gyeonggi-do won the men’s high school and men’s general 4-kilometer team trials in cycling with times of 4:30:778 and 4:20:372, respectively, while Lee Kwang-hyun (Hwaseong City Hall) and Hong Se-na (Ansan City Hall) won the men’s and women’s general flechette individual events in fencing, beating Ha Tae-gyu (Daejeon City Corporation) and Kim Ki-yeon (Daegu University) 15 to 5 and 15 to 10, respectively, in the final.
Meanwhile, Gyeonggi-do is expected to go out on a high note on the 14th, when the competition for medals between cities and provinces begins in earnest, as well as the competition for rankings.
An official from the Gyeonggi-do Sports Federation said, “The early medal races are looking good,” and urged the athletes to “build up the basic points so that 바카라 we don’t fall behind our rival provinces in the early scoring competition, as the rankings at the national championships are determined by points, not medals.”