S Korean golfer wins gold and more

Tom Kim shot a sparkling final-round six-under 64 on yesterday to win golf gold at the Asian Games — and avoid a long spell in the Republic of Korea Armed Forces

He let out a roar of “Come on!” as he tapped in for par at the last in Nagoya and celebrated a three-stroke victory after a superb round containing five birdies and an eagle.

He was visibly relieved at getting over the line and was mobbed by his teammates as they draped him in the South Korean flag and doused him in water to celebrate.

Kim knew there was more at stake than just a gold medal. Able-bodied South Korean males are usually required to perform between 18 months and two years of military service before the age of 28.

The Republic of Korea government exempts winners of Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medallists from a full period of service, requiring just four weeks of abbreviated basic training instead.

It enables the 24-year-old South Korean Kim to keep his blossoming career on track, having already claimed an Asian Tour order of merit crown and four PGA Tour titles.

He won this year’s prestigious Scottish Open and was downcast in Paris two years ago after letting the chance of winning an Olympic medal slip away on the final day, finishing eighth.

Three players were tied for second on 15-under, meaning that Kazuki Higa of Japan, Ding Wenyi of China and Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand would need a playoff to decide the rest of the podium. Earlier, Pranavi Urs held her nerve to shoot a 1m putt for par on the final green to become the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games golf gold.

Urs was doused in water in celebration by her fellow Indians Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar after completing a final round of level-par 70, which proved to be enough.

She finished on 15-under par, one stroke ahead of her playing partners Yin Ruoning — the former world number one from China who made a final-round charge with a three-under 67 — and Singapore’s Shannon Tan who carded a 68.

“That’s always the goal to always be the first one to do anything,” Urs said. “The first will always be the first, and I’ve always had that motto growing up and I’m just glad I could do it.”

Yin claimed the silver medal after Tan had a bogey five at the first playoff hole and had to settle for bronze.

Yin, known on the LPGA Tour as “Ronnie,” did win a gold in the team event with her China teammates Liu Yan and Zhang Weiwei after they finished top of the leaderboard with an aggregate of 20-under par.

India took silver with Taiwan, whose trio included former world No. 1 Yani Tseng, taking bronze.

It was the second Asian Games bronze for five-time major champion Tseng, now 37 years old.

She won her first, also in the team event, in Doha 20 years ago.

Reigning champions South Korea yesterday struck with eight minutes left to seal a 2-1 win over a “proud” China to reach the Asian Games men’s soccer final. The South Koreans are to face either hosts Japan or Uzbekistan for gold on Saturday as they pursue a fourth consecutive title. Uzbekistan and Japan were tied 1-1 as of press time last night. Bae Jun-ho was their hero, ghosting in at the back post to head in a dramatic 82nd-minute winner at Nagai Stadium.

Men’s soccer at the Asian Games consists of under-23 squads with three overage players. “We were expecting a challenging match but we persevered,”

China’s Wang Xiyu, fresh from conquering top seed Alexandra Eala, toppled Zhang Shuai to win Asian Games women’s tennis singles gold yesterday — and a ticket to the Los Angeles Olympics.
The 25-year-old Wang breezed past her compatriot 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya.
Tennis is one of seven sports at the Games where the winners receive an Olympic qualification place.
Wang paid tribute to the 37-year-old Zhang, who has won multiple Grand Slam doubles titles and has now added a second Asian Games singles silver medal to the one she won in 2018 in

COURT STARS: Taiwan tennis sensations Hsieh Su-wei and Liang En-shuo advanced to the women’s doubles quarter-finals, along with Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien Taiwan yesterday picked up two more bronze medals at the Asian Games in Japan, bringing their medal total to 39, including three golds and 10 silvers, to rank 14th in the overall standings. Lin Yu-ting guaranteed herself at least a silver medal in boxing after she outclassed Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova 5-0 in their women’s 60kg semi-final at the Nishio Gymnasium, putting the Taiwanese Olympic champion just one win from a second Asian Games gold.

Lin is tomorrow to face China’s Yang Chengyu in the gold-medal showdown. The 30-year-old thanked the medical team afterwards for treating the cut to her nose she sustained in

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has found itself divided ahead of their two Nations League clashes with Israel, with the players disagreeing over whether to boycott the first game today and goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu withdrawing from the squad. After hours of fraught meetings among the players and occasionally involving coaches and officials, FAI chief executive officer David Courell said at a news conference that had been delayed by several hours that a “significant majority” of the squad had agreed to play the game in Hungary, but it was far from a unanimous decision.

The handful of Irish journalists present questioned Courell