Korean rugby sevens team dominate Asian Games opener

The Korean rugby sevens team pose before departing for the Asian Games at Incheon International Airport in Incheon on Sept. 21. [KOREA RUGBY UNION]

 
The Korean men’s rugby sevens team started their Asian Games campaign with a big win on Sunday, beating Chinese Taipei 22-0 in their opening Pool B game at HZNU Athletics Field in Hangzhou, China.
 
Korea got off to a fast start, with Kim Hyun-soo scoring the first try just under three minutes into the game. Korea were unable to convert, but added another try from Han Kun-kyu just after the six-minute mark to go 10-0 up going into the break.
 
Jang Jeong-min added another try in the ninth minute, with Kim Na-muk finally nailing the conversion to take the score to 17-0. Jang scored again in the 12th minute, taking the score to 22-0 to end the game.
 
Rugby sevens is one of the three forms of rugby, alongside rugby union — as seen in the Rugby World Cup — and the less common rugby league. Sevens is a scaled-down form of rugby union and is played on the same size field, but with much faster gameplay.
 
Korea are competing in Pool B at the Asian Games alongside Chinese Taipei and the OCA Independent Athlete team. All three games take place on Sunday, with Korea still set to play the OCA team later in the evening as of press time.
 
Although not widely considered a rugby-playing country, Korea has always been one of the strongest countries in Asia and has never failed to medal at the Asian Games.
 
Korea took gold at the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games — it actually took two golds at both tournaments because rugby union was also included as a separate event — winning silver in 2006 and bronze at the last three tournaments.
 
Japan and Hong Kong are the two other Asian powerhouses, alternating gold and silver over the last three tournaments. Hong Kong are competing in Pool A this year, while Japan are in Pool C.
 
The bracket means that Japan and Hong Kong should meet in the semifinals, potentially paving the way for Korea to reach the final for the first time since 2006.
 

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]