So all the Korean men failed to win a gold medal in tennis at the Asian Games. So it seems almost certain that the top 3 male tennis players, Kwon Soonwoo, Hong Seongchan and Chung Yunseong, will have to start their military service within the next 2 or 3 years.
Kwon Soon-woo sees medal hopes of avoiding mandatory military service fade after failing to win Asian Games
Tennis NewsFriday, 29 September 2023 at 22:30
Kwon Soon-woo
fell at the Asian Games and will have to undergo mandatory military service
after failing to win an Asian Games medal.
Despite
being the highest-ranked male player in his country, he lost in the second
round to a significantly lower-ranked player and withdrew from the doubles in
the semifinals.
South
Korea's military service law requires healthy men aged 18 to 28 to serve in the
military for approximately 1.5 to 2 years. However, prominent figures in sports
and culture can obtain exemptions if they win gold medals at the Olympics or
Asian Games.
Previous
examples include Son Heung-min and Chung Hyeon, who, despite their achievements
as gold medalists, still had to complete a basic military training of four
weeks.
The tennis
player had the opportunity to obtain an exemption at the Asian Games by winning
the gold medal. He was the fourth seed in a draw that featured only three
players in the top 100: China's Zhizhen Zhang (60th), Yibing Wu (100th), and
Japan's Yosuke Watanuki (77th).
However,
Kwon Soon-woo ended up losing in his debut in the second round (bye first
round) to the world No. 634 Kasidit Samrej, a 22-year-old from Thailand, with a
score of 3-6, 7-5, 4-6.
Kwon
Soon-woo and his recent doubles partner, Hong Seongchan, aged 26, will soon
join the military to fulfill their military service, where they must complete
at least 18 months of service.
The South
Korean had a strong start to the season at the Adelaide International 2, where
he advanced from qualifying as a lucky loser and went on to win his second ATP
250 tournament, defeating players like Pablo Carreño Busta, Mikael Ymer, Jack
Draper, and Roberto Bautista Agut. Unfortunately, injuries prevented Kwon from
regularly competing on the ATP Tour this year, and he was absent from February
until the recent US Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by
Christopher Eubanks.
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