(Olympics) Archers save day again while judoka earns bronze

▲ South Korean archers An San, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young (L to R) poses in front of the board showing their names under the "Gold Medal" section after winning the women's team event at the Tokyo Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ South Korean archer An San (R) takes a selfie with her teammates and other medalists from the women's team event at the Tokyo Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. South Korea won the gold medal over the Russian Olympic Committee. (Yonhap)
▲ An Baul of South Korea poses with his bronze medal from the men's 66kg judo event at the Tokyo Olympics at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on July 25, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ Lee Dae-hoon of South Korea reacts to his loss to Zhao Shuai of China in the bronze medal match for the men's 68kg taekwondo event at the Tokyo Olympics at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, east of Tokyo, on July 25, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ South Korean players and coaches celebrate their 4-0 victory over Romania in their Group B match in the Tokyo Olympic men's football tournament at Ibaraki Kashima Stadium in Kashima, Japan, on July 25, 2021. (Yonhap)

(Olympics) S Korea recap-Day 2

(Olympics) Archers save day again while judoka earns bronze

By Yoo Jee-ho

TOKYO, July 25 (Yonhap) -- For the second straight day at the Tokyo Olympics, South Korea captured a gold medal in archery.

And for the second straight day, there were no other gold medals for the country.

Archers saved Sunday for South Korea as former medalists in other sports faltered in and around Tokyo.

The trio of An San, Kang Chae-young and Jang Min-hee combined for the women's archery team gold medal over the Russian Olympic Committee at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo.

South Korea has now won nine consecutive gold medals in that event, tying the record for the longest winning streak in any Olympic sport.

An, who won the mixed team gold Saturday, became the first double gold medalist of the Tokyo Olympics.

An Baul earned a hard-fought bronze medal in the men's 66kg judo at Nippon Budokan in the Japanese capital. An won silver five years ago in Rio de Janeiro, but couldn't top that performance here after losing to Vazha Margvelashvili of Georgia in the semifinals.

For the second straight day, there were no gold medals from taekwondo and fencing, the two sports where South Korea had been hoping to strike gold early and often.

Lee Dae-hoon, the country's most recognizable taekwondo athlete, lost in the bronze medal match for the men's 68kg event, and then announced his retirement.

Earlier in the day, Lee fell to Ulugbek Rashitov of Uzbekistan 21-19 in the round of 16 at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, east of Tokyo. It was one of the most shocking losses that the 29-year-old has suffered in an otherwise illustrious career.

Lee leaves taekwondo with three world titles, three Asian Games gold medals and two Olympic medals -- a silver from 2012 and a bronze from 2016. An Olympic gold will forever remain the one missing piece.

Also in taekwondo on Sunday, Lee Ahreum fell to Lo Chia-Ling of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16 in the women's 57kg.

South Korea, the birthplace of taekwondo, has one bronze medal to show for after two days.

In fencing, Park Sang-young, the defending champion in the men's individual epee, got tripped up in the quarterfinals this time. He lost to world No. 1 from Hungary, Gergely Sikosi, 15-12.

His two teammates, Ma Se-geon and Kweon Young-jun, were gone in the round of 64 and 32, respectively.

Jeon Hee-sook, the lone female fencer in the individual foil event, lost in the quarterfinals, and announced her retirement from fencing.

A close call came late at night in weightlifting, as Han Myeong-mok finished in fourth place by 1kg in the men's 67kg event.

Han lifted 147kg in snatch and 174kg in clean and jerk for 321kg in total. The bronze medalist, Mirko Zanni of Italy, had a total of 322kg.

Han is the only member of the South Korean weightlifting team with previous Olympic experience. He ranked ninth in the 62kg event in 2016.

The men's football team, much maligned after losing to New Zealand in Group B opener last Thursday, defeated Romania 4-0 to surge to the top of the group.

Lee Kang-in scored twice after coming off the bench in the second half. In order to advance to the quarterfinals, South Korea will only need a draw against Honduras in their final group match on Wednesday.

(END)