(Asiad) Close calls abound as S. Korea adds 3 gold medals

NAGOYA, Japan, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea added three gold medals to its tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, though the total could have been much higher with the clock ticking on the quadrennial competition.

On the first day of the recurve archery medal competition, South Korea grabbed one gold, one silver and one bronze.

Lee Woo-seok, Kim Je-deok and Kim Woo-jin won the men's team gold medal with a 5-1 victory over India in the final, South Korea's second straight gold medal in this event. Lee and Kim Je-deok were on that 2023 championship team, while this was Kim Woo-jin's first team gold since 2010.

Earlier in the day, Kim Je-deok and Kang Chae-young settled for bronze in the mixed team event, after struggling to find their rhythm in blustery conditions at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, some 50 kilometers southeast of the main host city, Nagoya.

In the day's first medal event, Kang, Lee Yun-ji and Oh Ye-jin lost to India 5-3 in the women's team final, as South Korea's gold medal streak came to a halt at seven.

South Korea defended its League of Legends title in esports with a 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei. Esports legend Lee Sang-hyeok, or Faker, sat out the final, but his teammates picked up the slack for South Korea's second esports gold medal of this Asiad.

Ha Jee-min won his fourth career Asian Games gold medal by taking the men's dinghy sailing title at Kaiyoh Yacht Harbor in Gamagori, some 50 km southeast of Nagoya.

South Korea later won silver in the mixed dinghy event with Kim Chang-ju and Lee Gyeong-jin in action.

With the three gold medals, South Korea raised its total to 33, a distant third behind China and Japan. Though South Korea is expected to grab a few more gold medals Saturday, the country is unlikely to meet its target of 40 to 45 gold medals.

South Korea claimed silver and bronze medals in and around Nagoya all day Friday.

The women's football team defeated China 1-0 for bronze in Osaka. Noh Jin-young's fourth-minute header was the difference in South Korea's first victory over China in 11 years.

Nam Ji-sung and Park Ui-sung earned silver in the men's doubles in tennis, South Korea's only medal from the sport at this Asiad.

Nam and Park lost to Yusuke Kusuhara and Shunsuke Nakagawa of Japan by 2-0 (6-3, 7-6 (7-4)) in the gold medal match at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya.

South Korea had two pugilists in men's boxing finals, but both of them lost.

Jang Dong-hwan took silver after losing to Abdumalik Khalokov of Uzbekistan by a unanimous decision in the men's 60-kilogram final, while Kim Min-seong fell to Ankush Panghal of India 4-0 in the final of the men's 80kg division.

Also on Friday, South Korea claimed two silver medals and two bronze medals in ju-jitsu, and two silver medals and three bronze medals in judo.

South Korea did not pick up any gold in taekwondo as "kyorugi," or sparring, events began Friday. An Hyang-sik in the men's -58kg and Kwak Min-ju in the women's -67kg were the country's only medalists Friday, with both losing in the semifinals.