(LEAD) (Asiad) Cho Sung-jae races to bronze in men's breaststroke swimming

Tokyo — Cho Sung-jae secured a bronze medal in the men's 200-meter breaststroke swimming competition at the Asian Games on Thursday, marking only the second time a South Korean has achieved podium success in this event. The 25-year-old Swimmer finished with a time of 2:08.76, narrowly missing the world record set by Japan's Shin Ohashi (2:04.83) and Kyrgyzstan's Denis Petrashov, who claimed silver in 2:08.67.

Cho began the race in sixth place, gradually climbing to fifth before the halfway mark. As the final 50 meters approached, trailing behind Japanese swimmer Ippei Watanabe by 0.67 seconds, Cho made a remarkable comeback, completing the last 50 meters in 33.30 seconds, the third-fastest split among the 10-man final. Cho edged out Hong Kong's Adam Mak Sai-ting by a single hundredth of a second.

Cho joins Choi Kyu-woong, who was part of the team that won a silver medal in the 2010 Asian Games, as the only South Korean swimmers to claim an Asian Games medal in the men's 200m breaststroke. Reflecting on his achievement, Cho expressed his satisfaction, stating that it was nearly six years since he last reached the 2:08 range and that his determination to secure a medal was evident throughout the race.