The predicted demise of combat sports…what the Asian Games have to offer
The Hangzhou Asian Games have left us with some disappointing results and plenty of work to do.
Wrestling, judo, and other combat sports that were once considered to be legacy events, and basketball and volleyball, which were once touted as Asia’s top sports, have fallen short of their promise.
On the ground in Hangzhou, reporter Jae-won He reports.
[Reporter]
The Hangzhou Asian Games confirmed the shocking downfall of Korean wrestling.
Not a single wrestler made it to the finals, and we only managed two bronze medals.
It’s been 57 years since the 1966 Bangkok Games that wrestling hasn’t won a single gold or silver medal at the Asian Games.
With Kim Hyun-woo and Ryu Han-soo, both in their mid-30s, still the mainstays of the national team, the sport has no roadmap to address the lack of talent.
Judo, a sport that has served as a patron saint alongside wrestling, also won just one gold medal.
Kim Ha-yoon’s victory in the women’s 78 kilograms and above averted a “no-gold” disaster, but judo, which won four gold medals at the Jakarta-Palembang Games five years ago, accepted its weakest performance ever.
[Lee Ki-heung / President of the KOC: We plan to closely analyze overseas examples, especially the training systems of our competitors and how they are training, and respond to them].
The concurrent decline of ball sports such as volleyball and basketball, which command high salaries in domestic professional leagues, was also painful.
Men’s volleyball suffered back-to-back losses to India and Pakistan, ending the country’s 61-year run without a medal 메이저사이트.
Women’s volleyball, which has been on a downward spiral since Kim Yeon-kyung retired from the national team, also struggled, losing to Vietnam and becoming an underdog in Asia.
Men’s basketball finished the Asian Games in a dismal seventh place, its worst-ever finish, after being swept by Japan, which fielded young, second-tier players.
It was a stark reminder of the challenges facing both combat sports, whose very existence is threatened by a shortage of athletes, and ball games, which have become a frog in a well.