By Baek Byung-yeul





Team Korea is seemingly going to miss its goal of winning 10 gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics as its winning drought lasted through day 11.

Since South Korea won the gold medal in the men's archery team event, Friday, no South Korean athlete has stood on top of the Olympic podium for four straight days, knocking the country out of the top 10.

As of day 11, South Korea ranks 11th with six gold, three silver and five bronze, behind 10th placed Japan with seven gold, four silver and 18 bronze and ninth placed Australia with seven gold, eight silver and nine bronze.

South Korean athletes competed in wrestling, badminton, volleyball, sailing and cycling, Tuesday, but no one got a medal berth.

In wrestling, Ryu Han-su took a loss in the bronze medal berth of the men's Greco-Roman 66 kg.

In badminton, Jung Kyung-eun and Shin Seung-chan were knocked out of the women's badminton doubles semifinals losing to the Japanese duo of Misaki Matsumoto and Ayaka Takahashi 2-0 (21-16, 21-15).

The Jung-Shin duo was the sole South Korean pair to reach the semifinals as four other duos were eliminated in the early rounds including the world No. 1 Lee Yong-dae and Yoo Yeon-seong in the men's doubles.

The South Korean women's volleyball team was also trounced — by the Netherlands 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20) in the quarterfinals.

Though Kim Yeon-koung, the most valuable player at the 2012 London Olympics, fought hard scoring a total of 27 points, the South Korean team collapsed against the Netherlands which had a more balanced attack with four players scoring at least 10 points.

Revealing its goal at the Rio Olympics, the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) set the goal of winning at least 10 gold.

Given that the country ranked fifth in the gold medal tally four years ago at the London Olympics, the plan looked and seemed reasonable, but the outcome so far is dampening hope for the ambitious plan. As of day 11, South Korea has clinched four gold medals in archery, and one each from shooting and fencing; though Team Korea was expected to also win gold in badminton and judo.

With only a few days left, the number of probable medal players are also decreasing.

South Korea is expecting win at least one gold medal from taekwondo as South Korean players are competing in five weight classes of the Korean martial art, and one more gold from the women's golf.