The Hindu : Sport / Hockey : South Korea aims for gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
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Sport - Hockey

South Korea aims for gold

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI: South Korea, the 2006 Doha Asian Games champion, will not settle for anything less than a gold medal in the seventh Asia Cup hockey championship, and the chief coach Sung Jun Cho states as much in his stumbling English.

“Gold, Gold,” he raises his voice after a journalist asks him in different ways ‘what he expects from the championship.’ English is certainly not the team’s strong point.

Nice mix

The team, with a healthy mix of youth and experience and with an eye on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, can afford to do with that minor aberration. The chief coach will be relying on the drag-flicker Jang Jong Hyun — he delivered with a stellar show against a lowly Sri Lanka on Friday — and captain Jong Ho Seo. Jang looks the flashiest among the lot with a toothy smile and a white headband. “No English”, Jang gesticulates when asked for an interview. “Coach, Coach” he points out.

“We have four young players — Moon Kewon Kang, Dae KeunOh, Jae Won Lee and Jong Hoon Kim — making their senior International debut,” added Cho. The team looks supremely fit and extremely quick.

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