"Disqualified in the Very First Race?" 37-Year-Old Sailing King Wins Gold Despite 19-Point Penalty [Nagoya AG]

[Financial News] It was a cliff-edge situation in which not a single mistake could be tolerated. Starting with a fatal 19-point penalty and carelessly losing even his most dependable "lifeline," the 37-year-old veteran's mental strength proved deeper and firmer than the sea. Ha Jee-min (Haeundae District Office), a living legend of Korean sailing, overcame the worst possible setback—a disqualification in the opening race—and claimed the fourth Asian Games gold medal of his career.
On the 2nd, Ha Jee-min recorded a final score of 9 points in the men's dinghy final race at the 2026 Asian Games, held at the Gamagōri Kaiyo Yacht Harbor in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He edged Hong Kong's Nicholas Beji Holiday, who scored 11 points, by two points to secure a thrilling victory.
The route to gold was more grueling than ever. Ha Jee-min finished third in the first race of the opening series, which served as the qualifying round, but a late protest alleging that he had obstructed an opponent's course was upheld. He was handed a painful disqualification and a 19-point penalty. In sailing, the penalty from the single worst result among the nine qualifying races can be excluded from the total—a rule known as the "discard chance." However, Ha Jee-min had already used up this only lifeline in the very first race. That left him facing a perilous road in which any handling mistake or twist of nature during the remaining eight races would count fully against him.


Yet the true strength of Asia's top sailor shone even brighter in a crisis. Ha Jee-min cut through the waves without wavering and finished the qualifying round in first place, recording three victories in the subsequent races and overwhelming his rivals one after another.
Thanks to the advantage of finishing first in qualifying, Ha Jee-min began the final series with zero penalty points and a clean slate. He allowed no further upset in the final race. Carrying seven qualifying penalty points, Hong Kong's Holiday mounted a fierce chase, but Ha Jee-min narrowly held him off by two points to retain the top spot. Malaysia's Khairulnizam bin Mohd Afendy won the bronze with 14 points.



This gold medal holds special meaning for Ha Jee-min. After winning three consecutive titles at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, Asian Games Incheon 2014, and the 2018 Asian Games, he suffered heartbreaking misfortune at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. The final 12th race, the "medal race," was canceled entirely because there was not enough wind for the boats to sail. As a result, he missed out on a fourth straight title and had to settle for silver.
The 37-year-old veteran, who had held back tears in the face of nature's capriciousness, completely subdued the man-made crisis of disqualification with his skill on the waters off Nagoya. He emphatically proved to the world why he is called a living legend of Asian sailing.


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