S. Korea Loses Bid For 6th Straight Gold In Team Dressage

S. Korea loses bid for 6th straight gold in team dressage

South Korea lost a bid for a sixth straight Asiad gold medal in the equestrian team dressage event on Monday, as it settled for silver instead.

JAKARTA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Aug, 2018 ) :South Korea lost a bid for a sixth straight Asiad gold medal in the equestrian team dressage event on Monday, as it settled for silver instead.

The team of Kim Chun-pil, Nam Dong-heon, Kim Kyun-sub and Kim Hyeok earned 68.440 percent, with Japan taking the gold with 69.499 percent at Jakarta International Equestrian Park in Jakarta. The top three scores for each nation counted toward the team totals.

South Korea had won every gold offered in the event since Bangkok 1998.

Japan featured two riders who competed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. One of them, Masano Takahashi, set the tone early. And by the time two riders each from Japan and South Korea had finished, Japan was leading 69.411 percent to 65.293 percent.

Kim Kyun-sub, the only member of this year's team returning from the 2014 Asiad championship squad, and Kim Hyeok couldn't quite mount a rally for South Korea.

The Korea Equestrian Federation (KEF) has been in shambles in recent years, as it was mired in a scandal involving Choi Soon-sil, whose influence-peddling ways led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.

In late 2016, the sports ministry concluded that the KEF had fabricated key documents and violated its own rules to cater to Choi's daughter Chung Yoo-ra, who made the national team in 2014 and won the team dressage gold medal.

In light of the scandal, the KEF fell into a leadership vacuum and lost key corporate sponsorships. The ensuing lack of administrative support raised concerns that South Korea wouldn't do as well in Jakarta as in the past, which became reality on Monday.

"Our athletes did their best to prepare for the competition, but Japan was too good," national team head coach Lee Eun-jeung said. "Japan and Indonesia had strong support as the Olympic and Asian Game host countries, and there was something lacking in that area for our team."