Mutaz Esa Barsim (32, Qatar), the rival of ‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyeok (27, Yongin City Hall) and ‘the best jumper in active life’, will not participate in the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.

Woo Sang-hyeok is more likely to become the first Korean player to win the Asian Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Kazakhstan Athletics Federation released the list of participants one day before the opening of the competition on the 9th (local time).

A total of 17 athletes compete in the men’s high jump.

Barsim’s name is missing from the list.

Barsim won the men’s high jump title at the Asian Indoor Championships five times in a row from the 2010 Tehran Games in Iran to the 2018 Tehran Games.

Barshim also holds the record of 2m38, the highest record in the event. However, he decided not to participate in this tournament.

Woo Sang-hyeok holds the indoor personal best and the Korean record (2m36). The personal best for outdoor events is 2m35.

Among the players who participated in this tournament, the only player with a personal best record similar to Woo Sang-hyuk is Majdi Ghazal (35, Syria).

Ghazal’s personal best is 2m36 outdoors and 2m28 indoors. However, the ghazal has never exceeded 2m30 since 2020.

Gazal is not a threatening opponent for Woo Sang-hyeok, who has built a splendid career of 4th at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (2m35), 2022 Belgrade World Indoor Championships (2m34), and 2022 Eugene Outdoor World Championships 2nd (2m35).

Akamatsu Ryoichi (28, Japan) with a personal best of 2m28 and Sarveshi Anil Kusare (28, India) with a 2m27 height are also considered medal candidates, but the difference in skill with Woo Sang-hyuk is large.

If Woo Sang-hyeok overcomes the burden of ‘the first jump of the season’, he can win the gold medal at the Asian Indoor Championships for the first time among Korean players.

Woo Sang-hyeok will compete in the preliminary round at 2:50 pm on the 11th, and then challenge for the championship in the finals starting at 8:30 pm on the 12th.

Until now, Korean athletics has only sent a small number of athletes to the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. 메이저놀이터

Korea’s only medalist is Choi Yoon-hee, who jumped 4m30 and placed second in the women’s pole vault at the 2012 Hangzhou Games in China.

In this event with 8 players, multiple medalists are expected.