(ATTN: ADDS more details from 4th para, new photo)
NAGOYA, Japan, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) — South Korea’s Hwang Seo-hyun won the gold medal in the women’s balance beam event in artistic gymnastics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, bringing in the country’s second title in the sport.
Hwang scored 14.700 points in the women’s balance beam final, beating Qiu Qiyuan of China, who earned 14.566 points, at Nagoya General Gymnasium in Nagoya, central Japan.
Mana Okamura of Japan won bronze with 14.300 points.
The 16-year-old delivered a surprise performance at her Asian Games debut.
Hwang, who placed fifth with 13.966 points in the qualification round held Tuesday, staged a dramatic comeback in the final.
Qiu, who finished first in the qualification round, had been leading the final with 14.566 points, including a difficulty score of 6.4, while Okamura was in second with 14.300 points.
As the seventh performer among eight finalists, Hwang attempted the highest difficulty score of 6.6 and received an execution score of 8.100 to earn 14.700 points, moving ahead of the top two gymnasts.
With the eighth and final gymnast, Pak Un-jong of North Korea, scoring 12.700 points, Hwang’s victory was confirmed.
It was the first time a South Korean female gymnast had won the Asian Games balance beam gold medal since Seo Seon-ang at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games.
Hwang also became the fourth South Korean female artistic gymnast to win an individual Asian Games gold medal, following Seo Seon-ang in the balance beam and Seo Yeon-hee in the uneven bars in 1986, and Yeo Seo-jeong in the vault in 2018 and 2026.
Keywords#Asian Games#artistic gymnastics
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