"We all worked hard together..." The family story eventually broke down, 'Unfortunate medal failure' Kim So-young and Gong Hee-young's hot tears
Aug 01, 2024
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Kim So-young (Incheon International Airport) and Gong Hee-yong (Jeonbuk Bank) failed to advance to the semifinals unfortunately. 'World No. 8' Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong lost 0-2 to Malaysia's Purley Tan-Muralitharan Tinaa in the quarterfinals of the women's doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at Port Draschapel Stadium in Paris, France on the 1st (Korea time). Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong failed to advance to the semifinals, and unfortunately ended their dream of a medal.
Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong showed off their good form at the beginning of the tournament. The doubles match is a structure in which four teams are grouped into a group to qualify and the first and second places in the group reach the quarterfinals. Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong, who belong to Group C, won all three of their group qualifiers. In their first match, they defeated India's Tanisha Krasto - Ashwini Ponafa 2-0. He then beat Australia's Setjana Mapasa and Anhela Yu 2-0 in the second game. It also won 2-0 against Japan's Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, the last preliminary match.
The quarterfinal match went up in smoke. The first set was shaken amid the Malaysian spectators' roaring applaud. They lost 12-21 to the opponent's strong attack. It was the first set given up by Kim So-young and Gong Hee-yong in this competition. Pearly Tan-Muralitharan Tinaa, ranked 12th in the world, showed better performance than expected.
The second set of fate. Kim So-young and Gong Hee-young did their best. There was a tense flow. It was 7-7 as they exchanged early points. He was taken back. It was 9-12. He struggled with his opponent's anomalous attack. I gained strength again. Back-to-back attacks were successful, chasing 12-13. However, the score gap widened again due to continuous return mistakes.
After the game, Kim So-young, who I met in the mixed zone, said, `I said I was preparing really hard, but I'm sorry I couldn't show it. The result must be accepted." Gong Hee-yong also blamed himself, saying, "I should have connected the attack when my sister put it on and made it, but I think my sister couldn't play it because I wasn't good at it."
They are the two players who spent a hard time preparing for this tournament. Kim So-young endured it all. I erased the side dishes, too. We thought that we would have good results if we do it as we do now because we had a good performance in the group qualifying round, but we didn't have any of our strengths in the quarterfinals. " Gong Hee-young said, "I've been running without a break…," he said, in tears.
Both players burst into tears when they brought up their families. Kim So-young said "It must have been hard watching my family, but thank you for your support, and thank you for coming without getting hurt. I'll be right there, so I'll be there in a little while, so I want to say, "See you later." Gong Hee-yong burst into tears and couldn't speak properly.
Kim So-young said "I'm sure this is the last Olympics. I can't tell you all the plans here, but now I want to play some more fun badminton. If you've been working tirelessly with your goal, now you want to have a break time and have your own time to be happy"It must have been hard for Hee-yong to be with me for six years." I hope Hee-yong also takes a little break and runs toward his goal. I want to say that I'm always rooting for Hee-yong's dream."
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
