South Korean boccia standout Jung Ho-won (38) has started his bid for a second Paralympic gold medal in Paris.

Jung teamed up with Kang Sun-hee (47-KPS) to defeat Great Britain's William Arnott and Sally Kiddson 6-2 (0-2 1-0 3-0 2-0) in the first round of the mixed pairs boccia (sport class BC3) qualifying event at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris, France, on Wednesday (June 3).

Jung, who won the men's individual title to complete South Korea's 10th consecutive Paralympic gold medal in Boccia, was slow in the first end of his mixed pairs qualifying match, but came alive in the second end.

“I struggled in the beginning because the ball didn't roll as well as I thought it would at the venue where we played the qualifier,” Jung said. ”We only played two matches in the qualifier, so if we lost the first match, the second match would have been a lot of pressure, but I'm glad we got off to a good start.”

Jung Ho Won and Kang Sun Hee will play their final qualifying match on Thursday at 3 a.m. against Thailand.

In boccia mixed pairs, where 12 teams compete in four groups, the top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals.

“If Ho Won hadn't won the gold medal in the individual event, I would have felt a lot of pressure in the mixed pairs event because of the title of '10 consecutive losses,'” Kang said. ”Fortunately, Ho Won won, so my heart is a little lighter, but I will continue to do what I've been doing and bring home the gold medal.”

In the mixed team boccia (BC1 and BC2) qualifier, South Korea's team of Jung Sung-joon (46), Jung So-young (36) and Min Min-kyu (19) defeated Tunisia 19-1 (1-1 5-0 1-0 4-0 6-0 2-0) in the first match of Group A.

In the first round of the six-end qualifier, South Korea finished the first end tied 1-1, but from the second end onward, they never gave up a single point to their opponents.

“The first game went better than I expected,” said Jung, ”but it's a pressure to play the second match of the qualifiers against our rival Japan. We will focus a lot on the second game,” Jung said.

South Korea will face Japan at 3 a.m. on Thursday in the second round of qualifying.

The mixed team competition will also be held in four groups of three teams, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarterfinals.

“My goal is to win the gold medal in the team event and put it around the neck of our youngest member, Min Min-kyu,” said Jung Sung-joon, who reached the BC1 class final in the individual event and won silver.

“I will trust my uncle and sister and do my best,” said the youngest and only teenager on the Korean team.

Boccia is a Para sport that is not represented at the Olympics.

Players compete in a 6-meter-wide by 12.5-meter-long arena by throwing six red and six blue balls at targets. At the end of each end, one point is awarded for the number of balls thrown closer than the opponent.

The winner and loser are determined by summing the scores of the four ends of the individual and pair competitions and the six ends of the team competition. 파워볼사이트