15 August 2008 - Men's Individual: Korean trio seeks solo gold in tough field

Men's Individual: Korean trio seeks solo gold in tough field Beijing – 15 August 2008   The Korean trio of IM Dong-Hyun, PARK Kyung-Mo and LEE Chang-Hwan advanced in the individual elimination rounds on Wednesday, and each hopes to become their country's first men's individual Olympic gold medallist. Competition starts at 10:30 on Friday 15 August at the Olympic Green Archery Field.   Favourites   Ø      LEE, the No. 10 seed, broke the 12-arrow Olympic record when he shot 117 out of 120 points on Wednesday morning, the first day of men's individual elimination matches.  Ø      PARK also demonstrated impressive accuracy, shooting 116 on Wednesday afternoon. He is the No. 4 seed.  Ø      IM, the No. 8 seed, will look to improve on his sixth-place finish in Athens in 2004. IM is the reigning world champion.     Challengers   Ø      Jacek PROC (POL) was the first archer to break the Olympic record at these games, shooting a 116 in his first elimination match on Wednesday. Ø      Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX) surprised the field by placing first in the ranking round. SERRANO was the other archer to shoot 116 in the qualification rounds on Wednesday and aims to win Mexico's first archery Olympic medal.   Also...   Ø      Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS), the No. 6 seed, moved through to the top 16 as expected. TSYREMPILOV is the 2007 World Cup Final champion and the 2008 European champion.  Ø      Victor WUNDERLE (USA), the individual silver medallist at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, will look to get back on to the podium. In the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, WUNDERLE finished 8th. Ø      Alan WILLS (GBR) took out the defending Olympic champion, Marco GALIAZZO (ITA), in the individual elimination rounds on Wednesday.   ONS jf/jg/skh/ir/ks