NANJING: So long the dominant force on the U.S. LPGA Tour, South Korea’s women now look to have set their sights on Olympic golfing glory after Lee So-young won the Youth Games gold medal in Nanjing on Thursday.

In one of 16 gold medals up for grabs on the fifth day of competition in China, Lee fired a final round of 65 at the Zhongshan International Golf Club to take the title.

Lee will get a chance to win more gold next month at the Asian Games in Incheon, west of Seoul.

“When I was young I dreamt of playing in the Asian Games, not the Olympics. Next month I play in the Asian Games, so dreams do come true,” she said.

Golf is returning to the Olympic schedule in 2016 for the first time since 1904.

Also returning to the Olympic programme in four years’ time is rugby, and IRB President Bernard Lapasset was delighted with the sevens competition in Nanjing.

“It is a huge moment for rugby,” the Games official website quoted Lapasset as saying.

“Thomas Bach was very impressed by the quality of the tournament. He said it was very fast and strong, and he said it will be a key sport for the Olympics.” While rugby and golf hope to get a bounce from Olympic exposure, the sport of trampolining has been a fan favourite in Nanjing and China’s Zhu Xueying brought the crowd to its feet by winning gold in the women’s event.

Zhu brought her routine to an end with a terrific full-twisting double layout somersault that earned the highest difficulty and execution scores of the final.

“I’ve been training this routine for quite a long time and I got familiar with it,” she said. “Even if I chose a safer one, I might not be able to perform it well.”

Francisco Serafin Calvelo Martinez will proudly show off his silver medal from the equestrian team event when he returns to Uruguay.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2014