Korean wheelchair tennis makes history. Korea won its first gold medal in the men’s wheelchair tennis event at the Asian Para Games. The men’s doubles pair of Lim Ho-won (Sportoto Korea) and Han Sung-bong (Daegu Dalseong County Office) were the main protagonists. Lim Ho-won and Han Sung-bong won the men’s wheelchair tennis doubles at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games.
The Korean pair of Lim Ho-won and Han Sung-bong defeated Mohammad Yushazwan Bin Yusuf-Abu Samah Borhan (Malaysia) 6-2 6-3 in the men’s doubles final of the 2022 Asian Para Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Tennis Center in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday. Unlike the one-sided first set, the second set took a long time as deuces were repeated. The entire match took 2 hours and 33 minutes.
The first set was won by the pair of Lim Ho Won and Han Sung Bong. The pair broke in the fourth game of the first set to open up a 3-1 lead. They held their serve and broke again in the eighth game to end the first set.
However, the second set was a different story. A back-and-forth battle ensued. Lim Ho-won and Han Sung-bong started with deuce after deuce in the first game. This gave them their first break of the match. However, they broke the Malaysian’s next game to level the score at 1-1.
The seventh game at 3-3 was more of the same. The deuce situation lasted over 10 minutes. It was a close call, but the pair of Lim Ho-won and Han Sung-bong managed to hold their serve. The winners of the marathon game were Lim Ho-won and Han Sung-bong.
The eighth game, which started at 4-3, was the highlight. The pair was down 15-40. However, they continued with a series of deuces and eventually managed to break (5-3). At this point, the match was practically over.
In the end, Lim-Ho Won-Han Sung Bong took the ninth and final game to put an end to the long battle. The second set alone took about an hour and a half.
They were also fortunate to have Asian powerhouse Japan fall in the semifinals. The Japanese, who have dominated the men’s singles and doubles events at the last three Asian Para Games, were knocked out yesterday by Malaysia. Korea did not face Japan in the men’s doubles at the Asian Para Games.
It was a “bad draw” until the quarterfinal opponent was China, who were considered to be a medieval team, but it ended up being a “honey draw” as the Japanese matchup did not materialize.안전놀이터
This is the second time a Korean has won gold in wheelchair tennis at the Asian Para Games after Kim Kyu-sung in 2018. Kim won gold in the quadriplegic (paralyzed in three or more limbs) singles event. This is his first gold medal in the men’s doubles event after three consecutive silver medals.
Korea’s Asian Para Games wheelchair tennis campaign ended with a gold medal in men’s doubles. However, apart from the men’s doubles, the team did not win a medal in any of the other events. Compared to Guangzhou 2010 (1 silver, 1 bronze), Incheon 2014 (2 silver, 3 bronze), and Jakarta-Palembang 2018 (1 gold, 2 silver), the overall medal tally was lower. If it weren’t for the men’s doubles gold medal, it could have been considered a failure.
The Korean wheelchair tennis team will participate in the closing ceremony of the tournament before flying home at 12:00 p.m. on the 29th through Incheon International Airport.
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