In other Olympic action, the women's handball team has made it to the quarter-finals with a comfortable win over France in the last preliminary match.

Im Oh-kyung led the scoring with 8 goals, leaving the South Koreans with a generous lead of 30-23 against last year's world champion France.

Leading Group B with three wins and one tie, South Korea will face off Brazil for a berth for the semifinals in the early hours of Friday morning.

But the men's hockey team failed to make it to the semifinals after a two-to-two tie with Germany in a close call Group A preliminary match.

A clean sweep victory was the only ticket to the final eight for the Korean team, semifinal champions at the 2002 Sydney Olympics.

In boxing, South Korea's Cho Seok-hwan and North Korea's Kim Seong-guk have both advanced to the 57 kilogram semifinals, securing at least a bronze for the two Koreas.

Cho defeated a Rumanian player 39 to 35 to book the second bronze medal in boxing, following Kim Jeong-ju earlier in the 69 kilogram event.

If Cho Seok-hwan and Kim Seong-guk both make it the finals, it will be the first face-off between players of North and South Korea in the Olympic history.