[Recap] The 2013 Idol Athletics, Futsal and Archery Championships Part 1

Today is finally the day. It’s one of the biggest idol events on the calendar. Yes the Chuseok holiday is when the biannual Idol Athletics Championships finally goes on air to thousands and thousands of eager viewers just waiting to see how their favorite idols performed during this major event.

This time they have added a new competition in the form of “futsal.” For people that don’t know, futsal is soccer/football that is played indoors with teams of five players. The field is much smaller than an outdoor regulation field and so are the goals. The ball is also very different in that it is a lot smaller than a regular football and it also doesn’t bounce as much. The result of this is a much faster pace football game that is sure to highlight all your fancy footwork. 

There were over 160 idol teams participating in the event ranging from names such as EXO, BEAST, A Pink, Infinite and ZE:A.  Entertainer Kim Jae Dong and Jun Hyun Moo were the main MCs while comedian Lee Byung Jin and announcer Huh Il Ho were responsible for calling the new futsal event. Meanwhile BEAST’s Lee Ki Kwang, Defconn and comedian Maeng Seung Ji were responsible for on-the-ground reporting. 

Now enough introductions, lets get this event started.

NEXT: Bring in the athletes!

Opening Ceremony

The first part of the proceedings is the opening ceremony and the idol teams enter in teams. The location of this event is Goyang Stadium. But before the event, reporter Maeng Seung Ji does some pre-event reports, starting off by interviewing 2AM’s Lee Chang Min and asking him about futsal. She even mentions that someone told her than Lee Chang Min is a bit clumsy footed. She then goes to meet Rainbow briefly and then BEAST. Next on the list is B1A4 and then ZE:A. Dongjun believes that his biggest rival is one of the new teams and Seung Ji asks where Park Hyung Shik is. Then she goes to Teen Top and EXO’s room before the event’s opening ceremony begins in earnest.

Fans are out in force to watch the event. On the commentator’s desk is Kim Jae Dong, Defconn and professional sports caster Yoon Yeo Chun.

The athlete’s oath is taken by missA’s Suzy and ZE:A’s Dongjun. The oath roughly reads “Oath, the athletes participating in the Chuseok Special Idol Athletics, Futsal and Archery Championships vows to uphold the rules, we won’t try to stand out in an effort to get as many solo shots as possible, we won’t be scared of embarrassing shots and will try out best.”

At this point Defconn is dragged out of the broadcaster’s desk and is replaced by the Jun Hyun Moo.

NEXT: 100m Sprint Qualifiers

Event 1: 100m female sprint qualifiers. 

Highlights:

• Ladies Code gets off to an unfortunate start with Rise falling over during the start of her qualifier
• Crayon Pop’s Soyu shows some great pace to beat previous bronze medallist Bomi from A Pink in their qualifier
• A Pink is surprisingly well represented in the semi final with Nam Joo, Bomi and Na Eun all reaching the semifinals
• Dal Shabet’s Gaeun, the event favorite, wins her qualifier with ease
• Previous gold medalist Ji Soo from Tahiti also wins her qualifier with Tia from Chocolat coming in 2nd

Event 2: 100m male sprint qualifiers. 

Highlights:

• The broadcasters acting less interested because it’s guys and not girls any more
• Big Star’s Feel Dog wins his qualifier 
• Hoya from Infinite nearly trips over in his qualifier but still manages to get 2nd place
• ZE:A’s Dongjun is the favorite to win this event and has a total of 11 medals from these championships. He easily wins his qualifier

NEXT: Who will move on in the semifinals?

Event 3: 100m female sprint semifinals.

Highlights:

• The first semifinal is filled with event favorites such as Girl’s Day’s Minah, Hyeri, A Pink’s Yoon Bomi and Dal Shabet’s Gaeun
• Gaeun is supposedly the only female idol to get within 15 secs during the qualifiers
• The broadcasters joke around and say the field reporter Defconn looks like one of these event organizers from little village events
• The top 4 in each semi final enters the finals
• Gaeun wins her semifinal with Skarf’s Tasha coming 2nd
• The other favorite to win, Ji Soo from Tahtiti, is present in the second semifinal
• However she has a very hard time in her semifinal, beaten by Soo Jin from WASSUP
• The idols that reached the finals are Hyeri from Girl’s Day, So Yul from Crayon Pop, Ji Soo from Tahiti, Gaeun from Dalshabet, Soo Jin from WASSUP, Tasha from Scarf, Da Hye from BESTie and Alice from Hello Venus
• Gaeun is the fastest heading into the finals with a time of 15.62 seconds

Event 4: 100m male sprint semifinals. 

Highlights:

• Event favourite Dongjun is in the 1st semifinal and he talks about how the new people are really good and that it may be time for him to hand down the baton to the new people
• Hoya from Infinite thou is very confident and says he expects to come first
• The actual results for the 1st semi final is Dongjun with 1st place, Infinite’s Woo Hyun with 2nd, Hoya in 3rd and Suwoong from Boys Republic coming 4th
• The 2nd semi final is won by Min Hyuk from BTOB with a idol athletics record of 12.40 secs
• The finalists are Dongjun, Infinite’s Woo Hyun, Hoya, Suwoong, Min Hyuk, Sang Hoon from 100%, Feel Dog from Big Star and Baekho from NU’EST

NEXT: Let’s play some Futsal!

Event 5: Futsal Match 1, B Team Vs D Team

Highlights:

• The broadcasters for the event are Hul Ill Woo, Lee Byung Jin, professional football broadcaster Lee Sang Yoon and current South Korean Futsal National team coach Lee Chang Hwan
  
• B Team members are EXO’s Lu Han, Xiumin, Suho, Baekhyun, Infinite’s Hoya, Woo Hyun, Shorry J and with Tasty’s So Ryung acting as the goalkeeper. They are coached by ex-national football team player Song Jong Guk
• D Team members are BEAST’s Doojoon, Ki Kwang, Yoseob, BTOB’s Eunkwang, B.A.P’s Young Guk, Young Jae, Zelo and singer Noh Ji Hoon acting as the goalkeeper. They are coached by ex-national football team player Yoo Sang Chul

• Of particular interest is Noh Ji Hoon, who is an ex-youth national football team goalkeeper from 10 years
• The match starts off with a flair with both goalkeepers being called into action to make some critical saves

• However it is D Team’s Noh Ji Hoon that is beaten first with EXO’s Lu Han getting the first goal of the competition with a nice kick that goes past the finger tips of Keeper Ji Hoon into the back of the net
• B Team is quick to retaliate with a goal from Lee Ki Kwang leveling the game before the half time

• The 2nd half starts with both teams going for the attack with the keepers being called into action several times
• However D Team’s Doojoon gets a cracker of a goal, slotting the ball into the top right corner past the outreached hands of keeper So Ryung
• With time ticking down and the score 2:1 to the D Team, it looks like B team is set to be eliminated
• However with only a few minutes left on the clock, B Team’s Lu Han gets another goal levelling the scores 2:2

• A time out is called with a minute or so left on the clock and both teams make their plans for the final minute
• With just seconds remaining, B Team does one final attack, which successfully goes past the outreached hands of Keeper Noh Ji Hoon however the ball rolls past the post and the full time whistle is called
• The game now moves onto penalty shoot outs
• Keeper Noh Ji Hoon is the stand out in this penalty shoot out, blocking all four shots from the B team
• Meanwhile D Team successfully scores on all four occasions and moves on to the finals to be played by the winner of the 2nd group (A Team Vs C Team)

NEXT: Time to shoot some bows and arrows and… race walking?

Event 6: Male Archery Qualifiers And Final

Highlights:

• The two teams that reach the finals are B1A4 and MBLAQ
• MBLAQ gets off to a poor start with Mir shooting a 6 with B1A4’s Gongchan immediately countering with a 9
• B1A4 continues to show good form, shooting a constant stream of 8s before shooting a 6 in the 6th shot
• MBLAQ meanwhile continues to falter slightly, shooting a 6 in the 2nd shot and a 7 in the 5th shot
• However MBLAQ starts to narrow the point gap in shots 6, 7, 8, shooting a constant 9
• The star of the event was however B1A4’s Shin Woo, who on his shots (8,9,10) shot 2 consecutive 10s and a 8
• B1A4 wins the male archery Gold medal with a total score of 83 out of a maximum of 100 points
• MBLAQ wins the silver medal with a total score of 78 out of a maximum of 100 points

Event 7: 200m Race Walking Relay Female Finals

Highlights:

• The teams participating in this event are A Pink, Rainbow, AOA, Secret, miss A, Spica and Girls Day
• Hopefully they will avoid the issue they had last time where all the teams were disqualified for inproper walking (Both feet off the ground)
• Rainbow states that their biggest rival and colleague is Secret, since both teams haven’t won anything at these events
• Suzy from miss A confidently states that the other teams should watch out and that she wants to win at least some sort of medal in these events
• The race begins and unfortunately for Suzy, she is one of the slowest of the race walkers, trailing at the back
• Meanwhile AOA and Spica  get off to a good start
• AOA however pulls away from all their competitors
• AOA wins the 200m Race Walking Relay Female Gold Medal
• Spica wins the silver medal in the event
• A Pink wins the bronze medal in the event
• In their post event interview, AOA talks about how some of their members were unfortunately to attend and that they want to share this joy with those members that are currently busy at other jobs
• Meanwhile missA happened to be the only team disqualified for improper posture

NEXT: 100m Sprint Finals! Who will win?

Event 8: 100m Female Sprint Finals

Highlights:

• The next event is the 100m female sprint finals
• The idols that reached the finals are Hyeri from Girls’ Day, So Yul from Crayon Pop, Ji Soo from Tahiti, Gaeun from Dalshabet, Soo Jin from WASSUP, Tasha from Scarf, Da Hye from BESTie and Alice from Hello Venus
• Gaeun from Dalshabet is the favorite to win this event and came into the finals with the fastest time, a 15.62
• The other favorite is previous gold medalist Ji Soo from Tahiti
• People to look out for were rookies So Yul from Crayon Pop and Soo Jin from WASSUP, who both did well in the lead up to the finals
• The race begins and Gaeun immediately takes the advantage with Soo Jin from WASSUP and Ji Soo from Tahiti in close pursuit
• However Gaeun gradually begins to widen the gap between herself and her two close competitors
• Gaeun eventually goes through the finish line 1st followed closely by WASSUP’s Soo Jin coming 2nd and Tahiti’s Ji Soo coming in 3rd
• Dalshabet’s Gaeun wins the 100m Female Sprint Gold Medal
• WASSUP’s Soo Jin wins the silver medal
• Tahiti’s Ji Soo wins the bronze medal

Event 9: 100m Male Sprint Finals

Highlights:

• The event gets off to an unfortunate start with strong favorite Dongjun from ZE:A being forced to forfeit the event as he has a prior schedule that he has to attend
• The participants are  Infinite’s Woo Hyun, Hoya, Suwoong, Min Hyuk, Sang Hoon from 100%, Feel Dog from Big Star and Baekho from NU’EST.
• Strong favourites to win this event is now Sang Hoon from 100% and Min Hyuk from BTOB, the latter setting the new 100m sprint record with a time of 12.40 secs
• Hoya from Infinite is also a favorite for the event however the broadcasters note that he doesn’t appear to be in tip top condition
• Sang Hoon states that he put on 10kg of weight in preparation for this event
• The race begins with Sang Hoon And Min Hyuk immediately taking the advantage
• The race is closely contested between Sang Hoon and Min Hyuk 
• However Sang Hoon is the one that crosses past the finish line, letting out a roar as he does so
• Sang Hoon from 100% wins the 100m Male Sprint Gold Medal
• Min Hyuk from BTOB wins the silver medal
• Hoya from Infinite wins the bronze medal
• In his post race interview, Sang Hoon states that “I promised my members that I would win the goal medal, I’m really happy that I was able to keep that promise.”
• As part of his celebrations, he also shows off his nice abs

And that ends the recap for Part 1 of the 2013 Idol Athletics, Futsal and Archery Championships. Tune in tomorrow to see the result of the other events including the futsal finals, female archery and many more.