(LEAD) (Asiad) Park Hyun-su wins bronze in men's rowing

NAGOYA, Japan - Park Hyun-su secured bronze in the men's lightweight single sculls rowing event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Thursday, marking South Korea's sole rowing medal. Completing the 2,000-meter race in 6:53.35, Park trailed behind Chiu Hin Chun of Hong Kong in gold, who finished in 6:50.32, and Iran's Amirhossein Mahmoodpour Shahrestani, who claimed silver with a time of 6:52.59. During the event, athletes were required to weigh no more than 72.5 kilograms.

Park, 30, started in third place at the halfway point but climbed to second at the 1,500-meter mark, edging ahead of Mahmoodpour Shahrestani by one second. However, Shahrestani held the fastest split over the last 500 meters, wresting silver from Park. The lightweight rowing event had been excluded from the 2023 Asian Games program but was reintroduced for the current edition.

South Korean rowers reached the finals in four other events but failed to secure any medals. In the men's quadruple sculls, the team of Kim Jee-hyuk, Kim Jong-min, Kim Dong-yong, and Kang Woo-kyu concluded last among six teams, 6.44 seconds behind gold medalists from China. Kim Ji-seo of South Korea placed fifth in the lightweight women's single sculls, 30.22 seconds behind Iran's Fatemeh Mojallal Topraghghaleh.

Moon Jong-won and Kang Min-seong of South Korea completed fourth in the men's pair, five seconds behind Uzbekistan's Maksim Golubev and Alisher Turdiev. Lastly, Kim Seung-hyeon and Park Ji-youn of South Korea finished fourth in the women's double sculls, trailing Vietnam's Tran Thi Tu Uyen and Pham Thi Bich Ngoc by a little over three seconds. Due to Typhoon Dujuan, the rowing races were compressed into two days, Wednesday and Thursday.