Kayak duo win Korea's first medal in canoe sprint events

Korea took a single silver on the first day of kayak and canoe medal action Monday, finishing second behind China in the men’s kayak double 500-meter final at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Korea's Jang Sang-won, left, and Cho Gwang-hee finished second in the men’s kayak double 500-meter final on Monday at the Hangzhou Asian Games. [NEWS1]

Korea took a single silver on the first day of kayak and canoe medal action Monday, finishing second behind China in the men’s kayak double 500-meter final at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Korea’s Cho Gwang-hee and Jang Sang-won finished the 500-meter course in one minute and 37.690 seconds, coming in 1.032 seconds behind Bu Tingkai and Wang Congkang of China.

The Iranian duo took the bronze medal, crossing the line a second and a half behind the Korean pair.

Korea had a disappointing morning elsewhere on the water at the FY Water Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China, finishing at the bottom of the rankings in the men’s kayak single 1,000 meters and the men’s canoe single 1,000 meters.

The double pairs fared slightly better, with Choi Ran and Lee Ha-lin finishing sixth in the women’s kayak double 500 meters and Hwang Seon-hong and Kim Yi-yeol finishing fifth in the men’s canoe double 500 meters.

Korea will have a chance to redeem itself in the sprint events on Tuesday, with six other gold medals up for grabs. That will end the sprint schedule, with canoe slalom events still to be held at the end of the Games on Friday and Saturday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]