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