terça-feira, maio 13, 2008

Judo Olympic Squad Finalized


Judo Olympic Squad Finalized
Korea has finalized the list of 14 members of its judo national squad that will go to Beijing in August.
Korea has won eight gold medals in judo. Ahn Byeong-geun and Ha Hyeong-ju won the nation’s first two gold medals in Los Angeles in 1984. Also, the national judo squad secured more gold medals in Athens in 2004.
The national judo championship-cum-final competition to form the national judo squad was held at Suwon Gymnasium, yesterday.
In men’s 100kg competition, Jang Seong-ho (Suwon City) won Kim Jeong-hoon (Suwon City) with judo’s kouchi gari technique in the final game.
By wining the final game, Jang is set to become the first judo player to compete in three straight Olympic Games.
In the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, Jang was considered as a potential winner but lost the game in the first round. However, he won the silver medal in the Athens in 2004 to become Korea’s representative heavyweight judo champion.
Surprisingly, Kim Jae-beom (KRA) successfully got the ticket to the Olympic Games in six months since raising his weight from 73kg to 81kg.
Even though Kim trailed Song Dae-nam (Namyangju City) by two points just a day ago, he won the decisions both in semi-final and final games, yesterday.
Kim Jae-beom was well-known as “Killer of Lee Won-hee,” Korea’s famous judo star, before raising his weight. He said, “When I struggled to raise my weight, Won-hee told me ‘No one will beat you more than two times out of ten games.’ His saying was a big help for me. I’ll do my best for Won-hee.”
In Women’s 57kg, Kang Shin-yeong (Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency), who is working as a police officer, successfully got to the ticket to the Olympic Games. Even though she was defeated by Jeong Hye-mi (Pohang City) by ippon in the semi-final, she beat Jeong in the final game, after winning the consolation match.
Kang, 31, is the oldest among the 14 judokas. After having worked at the special attack corps since 2003, Kang was promoted to senior policewoman in 2006 when she won a bronze medal in the Doha Asian Games. She usually gets personal training while working at Gaepo office under Suseo Police Station and goes to the Olympic village when the national squads are called in.
Kang said, “I hate to hear others say I’m not strong enough since I’m too old. Judokas in women’s 57kg have failed to go to the Olympic Games for past two games. But, I’ll show you I can do it.”
Also added on the list of national squad include Choi Seon-ho (Suwon City) in men’s 90kg, Kim Seong-beom (KRA) in men’s over-100kg, Kim Yeong-ran (Incheon Dong-gu) in women’s 48kg, and Kim Gyeong-ok (High 1) in women’s 52kg.

FONTE (photo include): http://english.donga.com/

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