South Korea launch Asiad team on gold quest

South Korean athletes vowed not to let the chance of winning an Asian Games gold medal on home soil slip through their fingers on Thursday, as the delegation to the 17th Asiad gathered in Seoul for a launch ceremony. South Korea will have 831 athletes competing at the Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 Games in Incheon, west of Seoul, and have targeted at least 90 gold medals at the quadrennial multi-sports event.

A gold-medal laden performance at the Games would also help South Korea end 2014 on a bright note after a year of sporting failure and national tragedy. The country is still struggling to recover from the Sewol ferry disaster in April in which 300 passengers, mostly schoolchildern, drowned after the ferry sank on a routine journey from Incheon to the southern holiday island of Jeju.

"We will strive to win more than 90 gold medals and defend our overall position of second place for the fifth time in a row," said Park Soon-ho, who will lead the South Korean delegation at the Games. "We've had so many accidents and incidents this year which were heartbreaking for so many of us. I hope that our athletes' can help console those in pain through their efforts and good results." The sporting year has also been a difficult one for South Koreans, who saw their national soccer team suffer a first-round exit at the World Cup in Brazil while the medal haul from the Sochi Winter Olympics was below expectations.

Among the gold medal favourites for Incheon is diminutive gymnast Yang Hak-seon, who won gold in the vault at the 2012 London Olympics and the Asian Games in Guangzhou two years earlier. "I will do my best to be a defending champion. South Korea haven't won a gold medal in the gymnastic team event yet, so we will try to get one this time," he said.

K-POP SURPRISE

Decked out in official white blazers and red trousers, hulking weightlifters, towering basketball players and pint-sized gymnasts were crammed together at Seoul's Olympic Hall for the event. Athletes were urged to give their all by Prime Minister Chung Hong-won and Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) President Kim Jung-haeng, but it was a surprise performance from K-Pop group T-ara that seemed to fire them up the most.

"Since the Games will be held on home soil, please be mindful of your attitude and how you act," said KOC President Kim. "Be careful not to get injured, and please be great civilian ambassadors in greeting foreign athletes." South Korea have recorded their best gold-medal hauls when hosting the Asiad, winning 93 at the 1986 Seoul Games, and 96 at the Busan Games in 2002.

Lee Dae-hoon, who won gold in the taekwondo bantamweight division at the Guangzhou Games four years ago, said he would not let the chance to defend his title slip away. "The Asian Games don't come around every year, and although I've won a gold medal before I won't just expect to win another one this time and will do my best." Fencer Nam Hyun-hee is the favourite to defend her 2010 gold medal in the foil and the 32-year-old said she would push herself to the limit in Incheon. "After having a baby my body isn't yet back to 100 percent fitness," said Nam, who had a daughter last year. "But this is my last Asian Games so I'm going to do everything I can to win another gold medal."