South Korea picked up three more medals in swimming at the Asian Games in China on Tuesday, reaching nine for the competition to surpass its total from the previous Asiad with three more days left.
Lee Eun-ji got the ball rolling by winning bronze in the women's 200-meter backstroke at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena in Hangzhou, with a time of 2:09.75. She finished 2.47 seconds behind the champion from China, Peng Xuwei. Another Chinese, Liu Yaxin, finished in second place in 2:08.70.
Lee was in fourth place at the 150m turn, 0.14 second behind Mio Narita of Japan, but covered her final 50m in 32.62 seconds for her first Asian Games medal.
Moments later, Kim Woo-min grabbed silver in the men's 1,500m freestyle with a time of 15:01.07. Fei Liwei of China won the gold easily in 14:55.47, while Shogo Takeda of Japan got the bronze in 15:03.29.
Kim helped South Korea win gold in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay Monday, but lost his bid for four gold medals in Hangzhou by taking second place in the 1,500m. He will compete in the 800m freestyle Thursday and 400m freestyle the following day.
The third South Korean medal in the pool came in the form of silver in the men's 4x100m medley relay.
The team of Lee Ju-ho, Choi Dong-yeol, Kim Young-beom and Hwang Sun-woo set a new national record with 3:32.05, finishing 5.04 seconds behind China.
China charged out in front from the opening backstroke leg and never looked back. After the first 100m, the race became a battle for silver between South Korea and Japan.
South Korea dropped to third place briefly during the breaststroke leg and then the butterfly leg, before recovering in the final stretch for the silver.
This is the third medal in Hangzhou for Hwang, who covered the freestyle leg for the last 100m. He'd earlier won bronze in the men's 100m freestyle and then grabbed gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
South Korea now has two gold, two silver and five bronze medals in swimming here so far. At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, South Korea finished with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
On Wednesday, Hwang will contend for gold in the men's 200m freestyle, while Lee Eun-ji will compete in the women's 100m backstroke. Kim Woo-min is the gold medal favorite in the 800m freestyle on Thursday and 400m freestyle on Friday.
Source: Yonhap News Agency