‘Aiming for third place overall,’ Korea’s main squad heads to Hangzhou today
After a year-long postponement, the main body of the Korean athletes competing at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, which kick off on Sept. 23, will depart for Hangzhou, China, on Tuesday.
The Korean team, led by head coach Choi Yoon, departed for China at noon on Tuesday through Incheon International Airport.
Korea is sending a record number of 1,140 athletes to compete in 39 sports at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which will kick off on Sept. 23 and run through Oct. 8 in six cities, including Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province.
The athletes are heading to China in sequence according to their respective competition schedules, and the main group departing today includes 14 members of the tennis team, including Kwon Sun-woo (Dangjin City Hall), 17 members of the shooting team, 22 members of the hockey team, and seven members of the skateboarding team.
Choi Yoon and Jang Jae-geun, the head of the National Athletes’ Village, and 35 other officials are also leaving.
At the Games, the Korean athletes are aiming to win up to 50 gold medals and finish third in the overall standings. Korea last competed at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games five years ago, finishing third overall with 49 gold, 58 silver and 70 bronze medals.
The Korean athletes’ competition schedule began the day before on Sept. 19.
The men’s soccer team, coached by Hwang Sun-hong, recorded the first victory of the Korean program with a 9-0 win over Kuwait in their Group E opener at Jinhua Stadium in Zhejiang Province, China on Monday afternoon, led by a hat trick from Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart).
The men’s volleyball team, coached by Lim Do-heon, will take on India later in the day in their first Group C match, while modern pentathlon and rowing are also on the schedule.먹튀검증
On the 21st, the men’s soccer group stage second leg against Thailand, the men’s volleyball second leg against Cambodia and the women’s pentathlon semifinals will follow. The medal race will begin in earnest on the 24th, the day after the opening ceremony.
After arriving at the home base, the Korean athletes will participate in the official move-in ceremony of the Hangzhou Athletes’ Village on the 21st.