"Age was always number one"... 52-year-old Kanu Kim Gwang-hyun's twists and turns in his national team debut

"I wanted to do better for the people I am grateful to," deep regret

Just before departure, Japan's Yuta Takagi in lane 2 turned the boat and capsized.

In a chaotic atmosphere, Takagi withdrew from the game.

And the game resumed without the aftermath of the unexpected situation going away.

Kim Gwang-hyeon (Sports Grade KL1, Jeonnam Disabled Sports Council), who finished in 5th place in the canoe sprint men's kayak KL1 200m final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games held at the Fuyang Water Sports Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on the 23rd, smiled bitterly in disappointment.

He met me at the common coverage area right after the race and said, "The Japanese athlete fell into the water, but the race started right away.

I was so confused that I missed the start. 카지노사이트위키

“There was no record,” he confessed.

Kim Gwang-hyun recorded 1 minute 00.507 seconds in the finals on this day.

Excluding Takagi, who withdrew, he was the lowest among the participating players, and the winner, Saeed Hossein Fujaroni (Iran) It was 10.039 seconds behind the record (50.468 seconds).

It was an unsatisfactory finish, but Gwang-Hyun Kim smiled.

He said, “The significance is that we have paved the way for the athletes who will come after us.”

Korea is allowing athletes to participate in international canoe competitions for the disabled.

This is the first time it has been exported.

Canoeing for the disabled is a race in which people compete for speed by riding a boat about 5 meters long and rowing a double-sided or single-sided oar, and it is almost the same as canoeing for the non-disabled.

Even in actual game records, the gap between non-disabled and disabled athletes is about 5 to 10 seconds for top-ranked athletes.

However, the time gap in the history of the sport was large.

Unlike canoeing for non-disabled people, which appeared at the 1924 Paris Olympics about 100 years ago, para canoeing was first demonstrated at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games.

It was introduced as an event.

It was debuted at this event at the Asian Para Games.

In Korea, it has also been included in the National Sports Festival for the Disabled since 2019.

I am 52 years old, and there is no one older than me, both disabled and non-disabled,” he joked.

He said, “I wore the Taegeuk symbol for the first time at the World Championships in Duisburg, Germany last August, and both then and this time in Hangzhou

I took first place for my age. Kim Gwang-hyun, who suffered spinal cord disability after a motorcycle accident in 2009 when he was 38 years old, first learned of the existence of canoes in 2018.

I became a member of the national team 5 years after starting.

Although the difficulties were great, last year in Thailand.

He entered Hangzhou after winning the right to participate in the Asian Para Games.

He had to train at his own expense, and even at international competitions, he had to fight individually without systematic support.

As the situation was like this, the national team led by coach Park Wook-il (36) His journey was a series of twists and turns.

The Korea Canoe Federation was established in 1983, but the Korea Disabled Canoe Association was only launched in January of this year.

He then confessed his gratitude.

Gwanghyun Kim said, “I am also a working member of society.

It is not easy to train while working.

If it were any other company, I would have been fired, but when I said I was working out for the country, the boss was very considerate and said, “Helping athletes who serve their country is also good for the country.”

He said, “I did it for you.”

He said, “I have three children.

I am really sorry that I left them in the care of my wife (in Hangzhou).”

“I came this far because of the people who helped me.

I have to work harder for those people, but my heart aches because the results are not good.”

When asked about 'next', Kim Gwang-hyun said, "I don't know if there will be a next opportunity since I'm in my mid-50s.

We provide both material and spiritual support to the players who come after us.

I want to play a role of pushing and pushing.

I hope there will be a lot of talented players in the future,” he answered.

Meanwhile, On Yun-ho (Sports Grade KL2, Gyeonggi Province Sports Association for the Disabled), who participated in the men's kayak KL2 finals on this day, passed the finish line in 4th place (47.326 seconds) out of a total of 7 people and did not receive a prize.

I achieved that together in the finals.

He expressed his determination, saying, “I will do it.”

After the game, Hwang Seung-oh said, "It's a pity that my teammates didn't perform as well as I expected.

The finals will be held on the 24th.

It is held in the same place as work.

Hwang Seung-oh (Sports Grade KL3, Gyeongnam Sports Association for the Disabled), who competed in the kayak KL3 event, ranked second in both the preliminaries and semifinals and advanced to the finals.