Hwang Jae-won on Asian Games: "The only aim is to win gold"

Daegu FC and South Korea U23 wingback Hwang Jae-won says he's thinking about one thing only and that's winning gold at the forthcoming Asian Games. KLU's Muyeol Jung spoke to the young prodigy about the tournament.

Speaking to K League United following his last game with Daegu FC before joining up with the South Korea U23s, the young wingback revealed that it is an honour just to be involved:

"It's an honour to make it into the squad just to be at the tournament along with these great players. As it is a very important competition, everyone knows how important the value of the gold medal is, so everyone is training really well when we meet up for national team duty. My only goal is to win a gold medal so it'd be great if I could come back with one." 

Hwang is the only Daegu FC player in the squad, despite it looking like Go Jae-hyeon could be called up too. Hwang spoke of the disappointment of not being able to take the club chemistry to China:

(Go) Jae-hyeon is like me in the sense that he's a winger or a wingback and so from that point of view we link up well together. It would have been nice if we could've done that at the Asian Games, I think, but we can't and so that's a real shame. Also, knowing how good he is, I'm sure he'll think it's a shame also."

K League fans know all about Hwang Jae-won as a wingback and his ability to whip balls in from the right. But in Hangzhou, Hwang says he just wants to contribute:

"First of all, I think I've been picked for the national team because I can play as a full back or a central midfielder. I think I have the ability to play in a number of positions and whether I start or not I just want to play an important part and come back having done what we've set out to achieve."

He also had a message for the fans:

"Whether it's with Daegu FC or with the national team, the fans always support me so for that I'm really thankful and, in the future too, if they continue to support me I'll do my best to improve as a player."

South Korea's U23 side take on Kuwait on Tuesday 19th September Thailand on Thursday, and Bahrain on Sunday all at 8:30 PM KST.