The world’s top-ranked badminton star An Se-young captured her first career Olympic gold medal in the women’s singles on Monday, giving South Korea its 11th gold medal of the Paris Games.
Before An’s title, all 10 of South Korean gold medals had come from archery, fencing and shooting.
Earlier in the day, Cho Yeong-jae capped a successful campaign for the South Korean shooting team by taking the silver medal in the men’s 25-meter 스포츠 rapid fire pistol event. South Korea finished the shooting competition in France with six medals, its most ever for a single Olympics, with three gold medals and three silver medals.
South Korea is closing in on its Summer Games record of 13 gold medals with six days of competition remaining. The country won 13 gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and matched that total four years later in London.
Among the remaining events, South Korean athletes are expected to contend for medals in taekwondo, women’s golf, modern pentathlon, men’s high jump and weightlifting.
The two medals on Monday raised South Korea’s overall tally to 26, seven shy of its record set as the host of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
