Is Go included in the Asian Games? And three gold medals? Unless you are a fan of baduk, many people will be surprised to hear that baduk is an official sport of the Asian Games. In fact, the first time Baduk entered the Asian Games was the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. And it was adopted as an official sport again in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Although China, the host country, had a great influence, the Asian Games’ selection of Go as an official event is a landmark event in the history of Baduk. In Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, etc., baduk stayed in the realm of courtesy and morality for a long time, but after entering the Asian Games, National Sports Festival, and National Youth Sports Festival, Baduk became a ‘sport’ after all controversies. .
Shin Jin-seo “The only competition to compete with a national flag on the chest, I will definitely win”
At the 2010 Guangzhou Games, which was first adopted as an official event, Korea won 3 gold medals (men’s team, women’s team, mixed pair) and 1 bronze medal (mixed pair) ), overwhelming Japan and Taiwan, who won three silver medals from China and one bronze medal each. At that time, Korea had two unsalted giants, Lee Chang-ho and Lee Se-dol, and in addition, Cho Han-seung, Choi Chul-han, Kang Dong-yoon, Park Jeong-hwan (Lee Sang-soo), Cho Hye-yeon, Lee Min-jin, Kim Yun-yeong, and Lee Seul-a (Lee Sang-seo) participated in the men’s and women’s team event, the host country, China. overpowered And Park Jung-hwan and Lee Seul-ah won the gold medal in the mixed pair, beating China.
This Asian Games includes men’s individual events instead of mixed pairs, so there are also three gold medals at stake. Each country consists of 6 (men) and 4 (women) players, including one male and female candidate. In the men’s individual event, up to two players per country may enter. The Korean national baduk team has already been confirmed through a preliminary round in April last year. In the men’s national team, Shin Jin-seo and Park Jeong-hwan, 9th dan, received the ranking seed and entered automatically, while Byun Sang-il, Shin Min-jun, Kim Myung-hun, and Lee Ji-hyeon, 9th dan, passed the selection match held separately. As for the women’s team, Choi Jung, the empress of Baduk, and Oh Yu-jin, Kim Chae-young, and Kim Eun-ji will form a team to represent the team event.
In addition, Shin Jin-seo and Park Jeong-hwan will compete in the men’s individual event with two players. Shin Jin-seo, who ranked first in the domestic rankings, was automatically selected, and Park Jung-hwan, who ranked second, was selected in a tournament in which six team representatives held a tournament. It is evaluated as the best combination in Korea.
Shin Jin-seo, who is challenging to win two gold medals in the Asian Games, expressed her confidence in a recent interview. “As with any competition, this Asian Games is likely to compete fiercely with China, the host country. However, I think both team and individual competitions are worth a try,” he said. It seems to have a different meaning. I want to bring joy to many people by winning the gold medal.”
Park Jung-hwan, who is challenging to dominate the two events with Shin Jin-seo, has already won two gold medals in Guangzhou in 2010. This time, he will participate in the men’s individual and team events, and will go on a hunt for a total of four Asian Games gold medals. After beating Byeon Sang-il and winning the right to participate in the individual event, Park Jung-hwan said, “I think my role will be important as I am the only Korean team with experience in the Asian Games. China is also strong in the team event, but our players are so strong, so I’m not too worried.”
National team coach Mok Jin-seok said, “The goal of this Hangzhou Asian Games is to dominate all events, just like the Guangzhou Games 13 years ago. We plan to conduct customized training in stages along with adapting to the game style, such as having two practice matches a day with Chinese rules.” I plan to focus on letting them release the pressure and show their full potential.” The national baduk players will enter the Jincheon National Athlete’s Village from August 11 and start earnestly preparing for the gold medal.
The host country, China, which is expected to compete with Korea for the gold medal, is poised to launch an all-out war to clear away the nightmare of only winning three silver medals after being humiliated by Korea on its home ground in 2010. The Chinese national team was confirmed last year, but the Asian Games were postponed for a year due to the Corona 19 incident, and it went through a re-selection process. There was a theory that it was because the State Administration of Sports requested re-selection from the China Baduk Association. As a result, in the re-election development held in May, in addition to the existing Yang Dingxin and Li Qincheng, four new people joined: Ke Jie, Mi Yu Ting, Zhao Chen Yu, and Yang Kai Wen메이저사이트, and Gu Zi Hao, Li Xuan Hao, Pan Ting Yu, and Tuo Zashi were eliminated instead.
China, humiliated by Korea 13 years ago, ready for all-out war
However, it is questionable whether the re-election development promoted to strengthen the Chinese team will benefit the Chinese team. This is because Gu Zihao, who won the Ranker Cup after beating Shin Jin-seo, was eliminated. In addition, Li Xuan-hao, who will compete for supremacy with Byeon Sang-il in the finals of the Chunran Cup, was not included, and current LG Cup winner Ding Hao was not included in the list. Kerze, the No. 1 player in China, joined as the last train, but as Kerze has been on a downward trend recently, it is said in China that it is unknown whether it will be of use to his power. In addition, the list of players for the individual competition, which was said to be announced by the end of June, has not yet been disclosed.
Half of the Chinese women’s team also changed. As the Chinese women’s representative, four finalists were selected: Yu Zhiying, Li He, Wu Yiming, and Wang Weibo. Among the players selected last year, Yu Zhiying and Li He remained, but Lu Minquan and Zhou Hongyu were eliminated.
Japan, which is one of the three kingdoms of Korea, China, and Japan, also confirmed the selection of players. In the men’s team event, domestic title holders such as Ryo Ichiriki, Toramaru Shibano, Yuta Iiyama, Kotaro Seki, and Atsushi Sada will appear. The female representatives are Rina Fujisawa, Asami Ueno, and Risa Ueno. Recently, Taiwan, which is considered a dark horse because of its rapid rise, has formed the strongest lineup, including strong domestic players such as Xu Hao-hong, Wang Yuan-jun, Lin Jun-yan, Lai Jun-fu, Chen Chi-rui, and Xu Zi-yuan, as well as students studying in Japan. The women’s team will include Heijia, Lu Yuhua, Yang Zhijian, and Li Jasin. Taiwan hopes to win a bronze medal or better by beating at least Japan in all three events.
Experts predict that Korea and China will fight bloody battles in all three events this time, but expect Korea to bring home at least two gold medals. In the men’s individual event, in which Shin Jin-seo, the current world number one, is participating, and in the women’s team event, in which Choi Jeong is holding out, Korea is superior to China, albeit in a subtle way. Of course, the men’s team event is also a strong candidate for the championship, not inferior to China. The Hangzhou Asian Games Baduk Competition will be held at the Hangzhou China Origin International Exchange Center from September 24th to October 3rd. Fans are already looking forward to whether Korean Baduk will be able to break China’s nose by dominating all events this time around.