Yacht Kiteboarding Lee Young-eun Wins 'Valuable' Bronze Medal at Hangzhou AG

Yacht, Total 5 Medals Won... Jo Won-woo, RS:X 'Gold'

Laser Ha Ji-min 'Silver', Fails to Challenge 4 Consecutive Gold Medals

Yacht athlete Lee Young-eun (Buan County Office) lit a green light for entering the medal race at the Paris Olympics by winning a valuable bronze medal in kiteboarding, which was adopted as an official event for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Male athlete Jo Su-cheol finished in 6th place.

The yacht team participating in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games concluded all schedules by winning 1 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals. At this event held at the Nippo Xiangshan Sailing Center in Zhejiang Province, China, Korea participated in a total of 10 events and harvested 5 medals in total.

In particular, kiteboarding is an event not even included in the National Sports Festival, but through the relentless efforts of the Korea Yacht Association and the Korea Kiteboarding Association, they achieved the success of entering the medal ranks.

Moreover, this event is a new yacht event adopted for the Paris Olympics. Lee Young-eun is expected to perform well as she challenges the last 5 remaining qualification spots at the '2024 Paris Olympics Last Chance Regatta' to be held in April next year.

Lee Young-eun said, "There were many difficulties as it is a new yacht event, but I did my best to challenge for a medal," adding, "I am grateful to the associations and Buan County Office for their support, and I will definitely repay with good results by participating in the Paris Olympics."

On the 27th, the Korean yacht team is celebrating after the Hangzhou AG yacht awards ceremony.
[Photo by Korea Yacht Association]

The Korea Kiteboarding Association has made efforts to support athletes such as Lee Young-eun and Jo Su-cheol by providing dedicated national team coaches, overseas training camps, and covering costs for various championships. Also, the Jeonbuk Yacht Association actively recommended and helped Lee Young-eun join the Buan County Office professional team, resulting in a valuable medal.

Meanwhile, the only gold medal in the yacht events was claimed by Jo Won-woo (Haeundae District Office) in RS:X, who demonstrated overwhelming skills.

Jo Won-woo also earned the honor of being the last champion in the RS:X event. The RS:X event will be excluded from official events after this Asian Games, following the Tokyo Olympics.

Lee Tae-hoon (Boryeong City Office) also won a silver medal in iQFoil. Lee Tae-hoon changed events and won medals in two consecutive competitions, following the RS:X event at the Jakarta-Palembang Games five years ago.

The good results in this surfing event are said to be thanks to the passionate leadership of national team coach Ok Deok-pil, an Asian Games medalist, and the efforts of the athletes, according to sources in the yacht community.

In the dinghy laser event, Ha Ji-min (Haeundae District Office), who aimed for a fourth consecutive Asian Games gold medal, had to settle for a silver medal.

Ha Ji-min, who had a rough start in the competition, aimed for a comeback in the medal race on the last day of the competition, the 27th, where penalty points were doubled. However, the race was canceled due to lack of wind, ending the chance to win four consecutive gold medals.

The two-person 470 event team of Jo Sung-min and Kim Ji-a (both from Busan Metropolitan City Office) also contributed to the medal tally by winning a bronze medal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.