17th Asian Games INCHEON 2014

Medals continued to roll in on day 4 and 5 at the 17th Asian Games currently underway in Incheon, west of Seoul. China takes the top spot in the medal tally with 29 gold medals, but the competition is getting fiercer than ever between the second in rank South Korea, and the third, Japan, who are neck to neck with 14 and 13 gold medals, respectively, as of 2:30PM.



South Korean athletes continued to add to the medal tally after tomorrows show. For instance, the women's cycling team consisting of Son Hee-jung, Kim You-ri, Lee Ju-mi and Na Ah-reum brought home a silver medal in the team pursuit event.



South Korean fencer Shin A-lam also added a silver to this list, at the women’s epee individual final. If her name sounds familiar, that might be because she was involved in what AFP picked as one of the most controversial judging decisions in Olympic history, which had her lose to Britta Heidemann of Germany at the 2012 London Olympics.

Her fellow fencer Choi In-jeong, who lost to Shin in the semifinal held earlier Monday, won a bronze medal as well. And for your information, the Incheon Asian Games has no third-place decider in fencing, so she shared the honor with Kong Man Wai Vivian of Hong Kong.

So far, South Korea’s women’s fencing team has won two gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals at the Incheon Asiad.



Meanwhile, South Korean swimmers Park Tae-hwan, Nam Ki-woong, Yang June-hyuck and Jeong Jeong-soo won a bronze medal in the men’s 800-meter freestyle relay event on Monday. Japan won the gold, and China came in second.

Clocking in at seven minutes 21-point-37 seconds, the South Korean swimmers shortened the country’s record in the discipline by two-point-24 seconds. And it was also the 7th consecutive bronze medal that they’ve brought home in the event at the Asian Games.



The first inter-Korean final was also held yesterday. South Korean Judo fighter Jeong Gyeong-mi defended her women's under-78 kilogram title, after defeating North Korea's Sol Kyong in the gold-medal decider. She also became the first South Korean female judo fighter to win the gold medal twice in a row at the Asian Games.



Speaking of defending champions, the reigning Asian Games baseball champ South Korea defeated Thailand 15-0 to open its gold medal defense with a bang on Monday. The game ended after five innings on a mercy rule. Team Korea banged out 13 hits against four Thai pitchers, and the game lasted just over an hour and a half.

M: South Korea is in Group B with Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong. The host's next game will be against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday.



Earlier on Tuesday, Day 5 of the Asian Games, the South Korean shooting trio of Han Jin-seop, Kim Sang-do and Kim Hyeon-jun grabbed silver in the men's team 10-meter air rifle event, coming in second only to team China. The latest silver win adds to the 8 other medals South Korea’s previously won in shooting at the Asian Games so far, including 3 golds.



South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan glided into the final of the men's 400-meter freestyle. He finished second in Heat 3 and third overall among eight qualifiers, and needless to say, the other top two were Sun Yang of China, and Kosuke Hagino of Japan.

The swimming races have been taking place at a new arena named after Park - Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center. After coming in on the third place in the 200m freestyle on Sunday, Park admitted to feeling a bit more pressured than usual to be competing in a pool built in his honor before home fans. But hopefully, he’ll be able to shake it off by 8:16pm tonight, which is when he’ll be competing for a medal in the 400-meter event at the same pool.



Before, that, don’t forget to catch the women’s sabre fencing team consisting of Kim Ji-yeon, Lee Ra-jin, Hwang Seon-a and Yoon Ji-su at 6pm Tuesday, as they will be battling against China for the gold. They’ve already secured a silver medal earlier in the day, beating Hong Kong 45-19.



Men’s badminton team match final will also start at 6:30pm Tuesday, and Team Korea will be again, battling China for the gold. The both the men’s and women’s judo team events will continue until the final matches are held well past 9pm.