Mixed results from Korea’s last hope ― taekwondo

The results from taekwondo, Korea’s last hope to break into the top 10 in the medal race, have been disappointing. While Korea hoped for three golds, as of last night it had only one gold and two bronzes, though at least one more silver was guaranteed.
Yesterday, in the men’s over-80-kilogram category, Moon Dae-sung defeated Jon Garcia of Spain 6-2 in the quarterfinals, and then Pascal Gentil of France in the semifinals, 5-4, guaranteeing him at least the silver medal. His gold medal match, against Alexandros Nikolaidis of Greece, was scheduled for late Sunday night, Korea time.
In women’s under-67-kilogram, Hwang Kyung-sun beat Heidy Juarez of Guatemala yesterday, winning the bronze. In her first preliminary, Hwang had lost to Wei Luo of China, wiping out her dreams of gold. However, the lucky Hwang was able to advance to the second round of repechages, as her first opponent, Norway’s Nina Solheim, withdrew. Upon defeating Antoinette Mary Rivero of the Philippines 6-2 in the second repechages, Hwang met Heidy Juarez in the bronze-medal match. Even though Hwang lost a point after receiving three warnings, she beat Juarez on points.
On Saturday, Song Myeong-seob added a bronze, in the men’s under-68-kilogram division. He lost to Hadi Saei Bonehkohal of Iran in the semifinals, but made it through the repechages for bronze. On the same day, Jang Ji-won, in women’s under-57-kilogram, grabbed Korea’s eighth gold, defeating Nia Abdallah of the United States.

by Joe Eun-hye