(Olympics) 1st women’s boxing medal secured; shuttlers beat compatriots in thriller

South Korea did not pick up a medal at the Paris Olympics on Thursday, the first time the country was shut out since the start of the race on Saturday.

However, South Korea has secured a long-awaited medal in boxing that will be officially added to its tally later in the competition.

Im Ae-ji reached the semifinals in the women’s 54-kilogram boxing event, after eliminating Yeni Arias of Colombia in a 3-2 decision.

There is no third-place bout in Olympic boxing, and the two losers of the semifinals are both awarded bronze medals. Im’s will be South Korea’s first medal in boxing in 12 years and first in women’s boxing, period. She will fight Hatice Akbas of Turkiye in the semifinals on Sunday. The final, should Im get there, is next Thursday.

In the all-Korean duel in the badminton mixed doubles semifinals, Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun outdueled Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung 2-1 (21-16, 20-22, 23-21). By reaching Friday’s final, Kim and Jeong have guaranteed themselves at least the silver medal.

It will be South Korea’s first medal in the mixed doubles since 2008.

Seo and Chae, the 2023 world champions, will try to win the bronze medal, also on Friday, in their second Olympic Games together.

In table tennis, Shin Yu-bin made it to the semifinals in the women’s singles. She held off Miu Hirano of Japan 4-3 (11-4, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11) in the quarterfinals, where she won the first three games, lost the next three, and then took the final one in deuce after surviving a match point.

Shin, who earlier won the mixed doubles bronze in Paris, is the first South Korean singles table tennis player to reach an Olympic semifinals since 2004.

Aside from the scintillating match in the mixed doubles, it was an unproductive day for South Korean shuttlers.

Seo and his partner Kang Min-hyuk were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles earlier Thursday, losing to Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 2-0 (21-19, 22-20).

Both of South Korea’s two women’s doubles teams were also sent packing in the quarterfinals. Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong, who won bronze in Tokyo three years ago, lost to Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia 2-0 (21-12, 21-13). Baek Hana and Lee So-hee, world No. 2, lost to the third-ranked team from China, Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning, by 2-0 (21-9, 21-13).

South Korean archers who bagged team gold medals earlier in the Olympics all won their early knockout matches in the individual events on Thursday.

On the women’s side, Jeon Hun-young defeated Penny Healy of Britain 6-2 in the round of 64, and then Charline Schwarz of Germany 7-1 in the round of 32.

Lim Si-hyeon beat Alondra Rivera of Puerto Rico 6-0 in the round of 64, and Rezza Octavia of Indonesia 6-0 in the round of 32.

In the men’s event, Kim Je-deok handled Wian Roux of South Africa 6-0 in the round of 64, and held off Federico Musolesi of Italy 6-4 in the round of 32.

All three male and all three female archers for South Korea have made it to the round of 16.

For women, matches in the round of 16 and beyond will all be held Saturday. Lim and Jeon could meet in the semifinals if they keep on winning. The third member of the team, Nam Su-hyeon, can only meet one of her teammates in the final.

The men’s knockout matches, from the round of 16 to the final, will be on Sunday.

Kim Woo-jin and Lee Woo-seok could square off in the semifinals. Kim Je-deok will avoid either of them until the final.