“Skill Defeats Power“

While the winner roared like an untamed beast, the loser remained on the sand mat in a state of absentmindedness with his knees bent.

`Lucky Adventurer On the Sand Mat` Hwang Kyoo-Yeon (26, Shinchang Construction Co.) toppled `Returned Goliath` Kim Young-Hyun (25, LG Securities) to win his first title in open-weight class of the national `Ssireum` (Korean wrestling) championship.

In the best-of-five matches of the open-weight division final in the 2001 national Ssireum championship at Dongcheon Gymnasium in Ulsan, Hwang Kyoo-Yeon and Kim Young-Hyun entered the fifth match with a 2-2 tie. As soon as the whistle blew, Hwang attacked Kim with a `leg hook`, and Kim countered with his strong point `pushing`. As their first attempts yield no result, both challenged each other again with `pushing`. After bumping one another, they fell to the sand mat together. Hwang and Kim struggled not to touch the sand mat.

At the moment when the umpire raised Hwang`s hand, while Hwang Kyoo-Yeon shouted for joy shedding his tears, the defeated opponent Kim, who was stunned by unexpected loss, remained on the sand mat.

`Master of Skillful Ssireum` Hwang Kyoo-Yeon presented a dramatic 3-2 victory over 2m 17 gigantic man Kim Young-Hyun for his first title since he made a debut in 1995.

Hwang Kyoo-Yeon, who grabbed the titles in the `Baekdu` division of the Kwangyang tournament and the Youngam tournament this season, signaled the birth of new king on the sand mat as he conquered the open-weight division.

After earning first match with `winding throw`, Hwang yielded the second match by `pushing` Kim. In the third match, trying to shake off Kim`s pushing attack with his flexible waist movement, Hwang counterattacked to take the lead, but he failed to win the match when he was shoved by Kim`s powerful thrust.

Kim Young-Hyun, who has dreamt of regaining the open-weight title in two years, participated in this tournament after three-months suspensions in September because he intentionally pushed Lee Tae-Hyun (Hyundai Heavy Industry Co.) outside the mat. But the retrieving of his honor was postponed by losing to Hwang Kyoo-Yeon.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com