South Korea | Son’s last shot for military exemption at Asian Games

South Korea’s Lee Seung-woo (left) celebrates his goal with teammate Son Heung-min

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min will get one more shot at an exemption from military service after helping South Korea reach the final at the Asian Games.

Son took leave from the Premier League to join the South Korea squad in Indonesia in pursuit of an Asian Games title. He figured a short break now could save him two seasons on the sidelines later.

The South Korean government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any kind with an exemption from the compulsory 21-month national service. Failing that, the 26-year-old Son would have to report for duty within the next couple of years.

Lee Seung-woo scored twice and Hwang Ui-jo added to his tournament tally to give defending champion South Korea a 3-0 lead in Wednesday’s semifinals at Pakan Sari Stadium before Tran Minh Vuong pulled one back for Vietnam with a well-taken free kick in the 70th minute.

Son was replaced two minutes later and South Korea hung on for a 3-1 win to advance to Saturday’s final against either Japan or the United Arab Emirates.

Vietnam’s run included wins over Bahrain and Syria in the knockout stages and had some South Koreans nervous, particularly with Park Hang-seo — known as the “Korean Hiddink” in charge.

Park, who was a member of Guus Hiddink’s coaching staff when South Korea reached the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup, had taken Vietnam to the final of the Asian under-23 championship in January and was acutely aware of the strengths and weaknesses in the South Korean setup.

But with the South Koreans relying on their World Cup players, the semifinal as a contest was virtually over inside an hour.

Japan and the UAE were playing later yesterday.

In co-host city Palembang, Japanese teenagers Sakura Yosozumi and Kensuke Sasaoke provided a next-generation entree to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with gold medals in skateboarding.

The 16-year-old Yosozumi, an X Games medalist, won the women’s park final over Japan teammate Kaya Isa and Zhang Xin of China. Bunga Nyimas, who is 12, placed fourth for Indonesia.

Nyimas upgraded to bronze in the later street final behind Margie Didal of Philippines and Isa.

Skateboarding will debut on the sports program at the Olympics in Tokyo, with street and park disciplines on the schedule.

Nyimas wasn’t even the youngest competitor in Palembang — 9-year-old teammate Aliqqa Novvery placed sixth in the eight-person field for the street competition.

On the men’s side, the 19-year-old Sasaoka held off Indonesian teammates Jason Dennis Lijnzaat and Pevi Permana Putra for gold in the park final and World Cup skateboarding bronze medalist Keyaki Ike won the street final for Japan.

There were nine finals in track and field on Wednesday, and China picked up the first two in the walks.

Wang Kaihua won the men’s 20-kilometer walk in 1 hour, 22 minutes, 4 seconds. In a tight finish to the women’s 20K race, world champion Yang Jiayu held off 2012 Olympic silver medalist Qieyang Shijie to win in a games record 1:29:15. John Pye, Jakarta, AP