Oh Yeon Ji and Im Ae Ji are South Korea’s secret favourites in the Paris Olympics
The South Koreans were one of the boxing powers in the 1980s and 1990s but two of their female stars will try to regain the country’s place on the map in the Paris Olympics.
Two of the women’s boxers from South Korea such as Im Ae Ji and Oh Yeon Ji represented South Korea in the Tokyo Olympics and the same duo qualified for Paris as well.
The Asian Games was not enough successful for the South Koreans but their top female boxers shined in the 1st and 2nd World Olympic Boxing Qualifying Events.
South Korea attended first in the boxing event of the Olympic Games in 1948 when the country sent three boxers to London. South Korea competed 16-times in the boxing events of the Olympic Games, their peak performance was their home event in Seoul in 1988 when the country took part with maximum number of 12 boxers.
South Korea achieved altogether three gold, seven silver and ten bronze medals in the history of the boxing events of the Olympic Games. Their first Olympic title was achieved by Shin Joon Sup at the middleweight (75kg) in the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. Kim Kwang Sun and Park Si Hun were their next gold medallist at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.
Boxing is the 8th most successful Summer Olympian sport in South Korea after archery, taekwondo, judo, wrestling, shooting, badminton and fencing. The sport is ahead of many other top national sports including weightlifting, table tennis, handball, gymnastics, swimming, track and field athletics, baseball and golf.
The 2017 Youth World Champion and the Tokyo Olympian Im Ae Ji moved down to the bantamweight (54kg) which is better for her height and physical parameters. Im impressed in the qualification events in the previous months and she has the potential to beat several of the top athletes in the Paris Olympics.
Oh Yeon Ji is the No.1 of the team who earned gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and she won three editions of the ASBC Asian Women’s Boxing Championships. Oh was unlucky in the recent Asian Games in Hangzhou but she worked well enough in the previous months to qualify for her next Olympics.
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