Japan secures 2nd spot in East Asian Games tally<\/p>\n
PUSAN, South Korea (AFP): Asian champions South Korea breezed
\npast Japan in the women's basketball final yesterday, but Japan
\nsecured second spot in the East Asian Games medal standings.<\/p>\n
Japan added seven golds for a total of 47 gold, 52 silver and
\n53 bronze medals, ahead of archrivals South Korea, who managed to
\nwin 10 golds for 44 gold, 37 silver and 51 bronze medals.<\/p>\n
Even if the Koreans win the men's basketball final against
\nTaiwan, and last round-robin match against Japan on the final day
\nMonday, the Japanese are unreachable now.<\/p>\n
China stood firm winning 12 golds yesterday for 62 gold, 59
\nsilver and 62 bronze medals to keep their top status.<\/p>\n
Four years ago in Shanghai, South Korea finished third with 23
\ngold against Japan's 25 in the inaugural Games, and the Koreans
\nhad been targeted to beat Japan on their home ground.<\/p>\n
Roared on by vociferous young local fans at the Kuduk
\ngymnasium, the Korean women repeated their excellent performance
\nof the Asian basketball championships in Bangkok two weeks ago,
\nchalking up a 78-65 win over Japan.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lee Joo-hyun shocked Japanese national champion
\nTakako Ida 11-8, 11-5 to win the women's badminton gold.<\/p>\n
Lee Dong-soo teamed up with Yim Kyung-Jin to take home the
\nmixed doubles title and he added the men's doubles gold with Yoo
\nYong-Sung in an all-Korean affair for their country's fourth
\nbadminton gold.<\/p>\n
South Korea dominated the Japanese-born soft tennis by taking
\nall eight golds on offer with You Young-dong and Kim Kyung-ja
\nwinning the all-Korean men's and women's singles finals for the
\nperfect victory.<\/p>\n
So Sung-suk, Kim Yoon-kyung and Kang Dong-kuk added three more
\ntaekwondo golds, while Lee Jin-taek avenged his loss in the 1994
\nAsian Games by beating Hiroshima high jump gold medalist Takahisa
\nYoshida.<\/p>\n
Lee cleared 2.28 meters, only five centimeters lower than his
\npersonal best to snatch the gold medal, beating fellow Korean Kim
\nTae-hoi into second and Yoshida into third.<\/p>\n
But Japan's five gold in the track and field, and two in the
\njudo appeared decisive to the competition with the Koreans.<\/p>\n
The Japanese push in the final-day judo competition was fueled
\nby Kazuhiko Tokuno who overpowered Taiwanese underdog Yeh Hsin-
\nhung with superior skills in the men's bantamweight showdown.<\/p>\n
Tokuno, winner of the 1997 French international, scored points
\nwith a minor outer hooking at 1:40 and an effective half throw 25
\nseconds later.<\/p>\n
The bronze medal was shared by Wang Yong of China and Moon
\nDae-hyun of South Korea.<\/p>\n
Japan's Kokichi Kawamoto defeated Je In-mo of South Korea to
\nwin the day's first gold in the men's half marathon clocking one
\nhour, seven minutes and six seconds.<\/p>\n
Yuichi Tajiri and Harumi Hiroyama added the men's and women's
\n5,000m golds to Japan, while their men's team strongly dominated
\nthe 4x100m and 4x400m relay races with two new meet records.<\/p>\n
China sent the younger generation to Pusan in preparation for
\nthe Asian Games next year in Bangkok and the Sydney Summer
\nOlympics in 2000.<\/p>\n
Medal table after yesterday's matches:<\/p>\n
G S B Total
\n 1. China 62 59 62 183
\n 2. Japan 47 52 53 152
\n 3. S. Korea 44 37 51 132
\n 4. Kazakhstan 24 12 22 58
\n 5. Taiwan 7 22 19 48
\n 6. Mongolia 3 2 19 24
\n 7. Hong Kong 1 2 2 5
\n 8. Macau 0 0 1 1
\n 9. Guam 0 0 1 1<\/p>\n
--------------------------<\/p>\n
Total 188 186 230 604<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/japan-secures-2nd-spot-in-east-asian-games-tally-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }