KOR
▲ (From left) Kim Bokyum and Kim Gi-tae
South Korean para table tennis players Kim Gi-tae (28, Seoul City Hall) and Kim Bokyum (26, Gyeongnam Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities) have teamed up to win the men's doubles gold medal at the Asian Para Games.
In the final round-robin match of the men's doubles (sports class MD22) at Sky Hall Toyota in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on October 22, the Kim Gi-tae and Kim Bokyum pair defeated Malaysia's Mohamad Hazlin Abdullah and Jenatul Fahmi Ahmad Zena 3-0 in game points.
Achieving four consecutive wins, including a default win against Thailand, the two players secured the gold medal regardless of the remaining match results in other groups.
Having defeated the Taiwanese pair 3-1 and the Hong Kong pair 3-0 the previous day, the duo secured their third win following Thailand's withdrawal earlier in the day before clinching victory in the Malaysia match.
Kim Gi-tae claimed his second gold medal of the competition, following his victory in the men's singles Class 11 on October 20, becoming a double gold medalist at the Games.
With this win, Kim Gi-tae has now secured gold medals across four consecutive editions starting from the 2014 Incheon Games, bringing his total number of career Asian Para Games gold medals to seven.
Kim Bokyum, who won a bronze medal in the singles event at this competition, captured his first-ever Asian Para Games gold medal in the men's doubles.
Having won six gold medals in singles, South Korea's para table tennis team reached its pre-tournament target of seven gold medals with this victory.
Later in the afternoon on the same day, Kim Gi-tae will team up with Seo Yang-hee (40, Ulsan Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities) for the mixed doubles (XD22), bidding for his first-ever triple crown at the Asian Para Games.
If Kim Gi-tae triumphs in the mixed doubles, he will become the first South Korean male athlete to achieve a triple crown since the event format was reorganized, and only the second South Korean table tennis player to do so following Seo Su-yeon at the Hangzhou Games.
Kim Gi-tae developed an interest in table tennis when he visited a table tennis hall following his father as a third-grader in elementary school.
Even after receiving a disability diagnosis in 2011, he pursued his dream as an athlete. Overcoming the disappointment of finishing fourth at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics and failing to win a medal at the Tokyo Games, he reached the summit at his third attempt at the 2024 Paris Games.
Kim Bokyum registered as an athlete in 2020 and has been gaining experience on the international stage.
After sweeping the men's and mixed doubles at the 2022 Costa Brava Open in Spain, he has now captured a gold medal at his first Asian Para Games.
(Photo courtesy of the Korean Paralympic Committee, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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