Jeong Seong-jun (46, Gyeonggi Province Disabled Boccia Federation), Jeong So-yeong (35, Chungnam Disabled Boccia Federation), and Seo Min-gyu (19, Ansan City Disabled Sports Association), who advanced to the third place match of the mixed team boccia event, unfortunately failed to win a bronze medal after losing to Japan.
Korea lost 3-8 (0-1 0-3 3-0 0-1 0-2 0-1) to Japan (Hiromi Endo, Takayuki Hirose, Hidetaka Sugimura) in the bronze medal match of the mixed team boccia event at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games held at South Arena 1 in Paris, France on the 5th (local time).
The national team finished the first end 0-1, and then failed to seize any opportunity in the second end, giving up 3 more points to Japan.
Japan, which employed a strategy of building a wall around the target ball, completely blocked the approach of the Korean ball with precise and elaborate gestures. Korea scored its first point in the third end.
Jeong So-young turned the game around by hitting the target ball on the fifth pitch, which led to a large number of scores for Korea.
They narrowed the gap with Japan by scoring 3 points in the 3rd end, but lost points again in the 4th and 5th ends, falling behind 3-7.
In the final 6th end, Korea made a last-ditch effort, but ended up conceding a point and finished the tournament in 4th place. The youngest, Seo Min-gyu, ended up shedding tears.
Seo Min-gyu failed to win a medal in the individual event, ending his first Paralympic Games without a medal.
Seo Min-gyu confessed, "I prepared a lot for four years and received a lot of help from people around me, but I'm so sad that I couldn't win a medal," and then he couldn't stop crying for a while, and he cried, shaking his shoulders, in the arms of his mother, Kim Eun-hee, who was his assistant.
Kim Eun-hee, who was also in tears, said, "I feel even more regretful because I know well how hard it was to prepare," and added, "I think it was because it was the first competition and I felt a lot of pressure to do something as the youngest."
Seo Min-gyu started playing boccia at the relatively young age of 9.
My hands aren't strong enough to write properly, but I hold a boccia ball really tightly. I love boccia that much Seongjun Jeong and Soyoung Jeong, who had challenged for a 'multiple medal' following their silver medal in the individual event at this competition, also expressed regret for not being able to give a medal to the youngest, Minkyu Seo.
Jeong Seong-jun said with reddened eyes, "(Seo) Min-gyu is really good in Korea, but he has no experience in big competitions, so I think he was too nervous this time. It's a shame."
Jeong So-young also said, "It's a shame that the youngest (Seo Min-gyu) is still young but he followed along well and I wanted to win a medal with him."
Although they missed out on a medal in the mixed team event, fourth place in the world is still a good result.
Jeong Seong-jun said, "I had higher expectations than at the 2020 Tokyo Games, but I feel very disappointed and disappointed that I didn't win a medal. However, I am proud that I made it to the bronze medal match."
Jeong So-young also said, "I think we still had some shortcomings," and expressed her determination, saying, "If I ever compete in the Paralympics again, I will try to make up for the areas where I was lacking and get a medal."
Boccia is a disabled sport that is not featured in the Olympics.
Players compete on a court measuring 6m wide and 12.5m long by throwing 6 red balls and 6 blue balls at the target ball (white ball) or rolling them using a groove to determine the winner.
At the end of each end, one point is awarded for each ball thrown closer than the opponent. The winner and loser are determined by adding up the scores of the four ends for individual and pair (2-person) matches and the six ends for team matches.
source: https://bit.ly/outlookindiatoto
