South Korea’s national boccia team won the gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Saturday, delivering the country’s ninth-consecutive Paralympic boccia gold medal since 1988.
In the pairs BC3 finals event held at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, the South Korean team comprised of Jeong Ho-won, Kim Han-soo and Choi Ye-jin beat Japan by a single point in an overtime session after a tied 4-4 match.
BC3 is a Paralympic boccia classification open to people with several different types of disabilities, including cerebral palsy.
The victory marked South Korea’s second gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics and the country’s ninth-consecutive boccia gold since the 1988 Seoul Games.
The victory handed Jeong, a seasoned athlete in his fourth Paralympics, his third gold medal, and Kim his first gold medal. Choi earned her second gold since her first win at the 2012 London Games.
President Moon Jae-in congratulated the boccia national team on social media for its gold win. He praised the team for “rewriting boccia history” and highlighted how it successfully upheld the country’s top reputation in the Paralympic sporting competition that first began at the Seoul Games.
Source: Yonhap News Agency