(Asiad) S. Korea beats N. Korea for table tennis gold; silver from roller skating, canoe, kurash

South Korea toppled North Korea to end a long gold medal drought in Asian Games table tennis Monday, while also picking up silver medals in roller skating and canoe.

Shin Yu-bin and Jeon Ji-hee of South Korea defeated Cha Su-yong and Pak Su-gyong of North Korea 4-1 (11-6, 11-4, 10-12, 12-10, 11-3) for the women's doubles title.

South Korea had last won a gold in table tennis in 2002.

This was a memorable Asian Games debut for the 19-year-old Shin, a former child prodigy who is coming into her own as a world-class player. She finished with one gold medal and three bronze medals -- one each from the women's singles, mixed doubles and women's team event.

The ping pong title was South Korea's only gold medal of Monday, and the country now has 31 gold medals for the competition, two behind Japan in third place.

South Korea added two silver medals from roller skating, though they couldn't have come in more contrasting fashion.

The women's team of Lee Seul, Park Min-jeong and Lee Ye-rim earned silver in the women's speed skating 3,000-meter relay in 4:21.146. They finished nearly two seconds behind Chinese Taipei, but they were all smiles on the podium during the medal ceremony.

The men's team, on the other hand, had little to celebrate even after winning silver in the men's 3,000m relay. That's after Jung Cheol-won, the anchor, celebrated prematurely coming toward the finish line, and South Korea lost to Chinese Taipe by 0.01 second, 4:05.692 to 4:05.702.

None of Jung, Choi In-ho and Choi Gwang-ho showed any emotion on the podium with silver medals around their necks. Jung later told reporters he was sorry to his teammates for not finishing the race.

South Korea earned its first canoe medal in Hangzhou on Monday, as Cho Gwang-hee and Jang Sang-won joined forces for silver in the men's canoe sprint kayak double 500m race.

They finished the race in 1:37.690, 1,032 seconds back of China.

South Korea earned silver in kurash, a traditional form of Uzbek wrestling, as Kim Min-gyu lost to Sadegh Azarang of Iran 10-0 in the final of the men's -90kg event.

South Korea had earlier won two bronze medals in kurash, which was contested at an Asian Games for only the second time.

Diver Kim Su-ji won her second medal in Hangzhou on Monday, taking bronze in the women's 1m springboard. She had earlier won bronze in the women's synchronized 3m springboard.

The South Korean men's field hockey team advanced to the semifinals after routing Oman 16-2 on Monday.

In men's basketball, South Korea beat Bahrain 88-73 to book a spot in the quarterfinals. There will be no rest for the weary, as South Korea will face the home team China in the quarterfinals at noon Tuesday -- some 14 hours after the game against Bahrain ended.

The women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals after knocking off the Philippines 93-71 in the quarterfinals. Next up will be Japan in the semifinals Tuesday.

In Go, or the board game known as baduk in South Korea, the men's and women's teams from South Korea both advanced to the finals scheduled for Tuesday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency