South Korea’s women duo, Oh Yeon Ji and Im Ae Ji are both medal favourites at the Tokyo Olympic Games
The South Korean national team prepares hard to the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic Games and their women boxers have the chance to beat many of their opponents. Three-time Asian Champion Yeon Ji and AIBA Women’s Youth World Champion Im Ae Ji are both medal hopefuls of the country in Tokyo.
South Korea earned two quota places for the Tokyo Olympic Games through the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event in Amman. Both of them earned by their top women boxers while their male athletes failed the last steps in the Qualifier therefore South Korea will have two chances in Tokyo.
Following its independence, South Korea attended first in the boxing event of the Olympic Games in 1948 when the country sent three boxers to London, United Kingdom. South Korea competed altogether 16-times in the boxing events of the Olympic Games between 1948 and 2016. Their peak performance was their home event in Seoul in 1988 when the country took part with maximum number of 12 boxers.
Boxing is the 8th most successful sport in South Korea which achieved altogether three gold, seven silver and ten bronze medals in the history of the boxing events of the Olympic Games. Their first Olympic title was achieved by Shin Joon Sup at the middleweight (75kg) in the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. Kim Kwang Sun and Park Si Hun were their next gold medallist at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games in the front of the home crowd.
The South Koreans claimed their first Olympic medal in 1948 when Han Soo An proved excellent performance at the flyweight. Following that success, Kang Joon Hoo became their second medallist four years later in Helsinki where he advanced to the semi-finals at the bantamweight. Song Soon Chun was their first ever finalist who had a close final against Germany’s Wolfgang Behrendt at the bantamweight in the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games.
Oh Yeon Ji won the title at the Wulanchabu 2015 ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships and she repeated that two years later in Ho Chi Minh City. She won the gold medal also at the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games and at the Asian & Oceanian Olympic Boxing Qualifying Event therefore her expectations are high at the women’s lightweight (60kg) where she is one of the favourites.
Her teammate, Im Ae Ji robbed into the world of boxing in 2017 when she claimed gold medal at the AIBA Women’s Youth World Boxing Championships in Guwahati. She was involved to the elite national team at the age of 19 in 2018 and following her bronze medal in the Qualifier, Im can represent South Korea at the featherweight (57kg).
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