South Korea's Olympic squad on Wednesday earned some breathing space from the previous day's spate of disappointments, as wrestler Jung Ji-hyun advanced to the quarterfinals in Athens.

Jung secured a spot in the final eight of the men's Greco-Roman 60kg division Wednesday by defeating Azerbaijan's Vitaliy Rahimov.

The 21-year-old OIympic rookie will compete against Eusebiu Iancu Diaconu of Romania on Thursday.

Also on Wednesday, boxer Choi Duk-hoon lost his opening match in the 74kg division to Filiberto Azcuy Aguilera of Cuba 6-2.

In track and field, Chang Jung-yeon fell well short of her personal best in the women's javelin and was unable to make it beyond the qualifying round.

Lee Jae-hoon, meanwhile, ran a personal best of 1 minute 46.24 seconds to finish third in his heat of the men's 800 meters, but failed to reach the semifinals, missing out on the six spots reserved for second-fastest runners-up.

The men's hockey team saw another defeat Wednesday in a 4-3 loss to New Zealand in a classification match.

Thursday will see what is likely to be South Korea's last big push for multiple medals in a single event as the taekwondo competition gets under way.

As of Thursday morning, South Korea ranks 12th in the Olympics medal tally with 6 golds, 10 silvers and five bronzes.