Korea dominates Hangzhou Asian Games taekwondo with fifth gold medal

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Published: 27 Sep. 2023, 18:36 Updated: 27 Sep. 2023, 20:22

Korea dominates Hangzhou Asian Games taekwondo with fifth gold medal

Korean taekwondo practitioner Park Woo-hyeok celebrates after beating Elsharabaty Saleh of Jordan 2-0 in the men’s -80kg final at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Lin'an Sports Culture Convention & Exhibition Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Korea extended their dominance in Hangzhou Asian Games taekwondo on Wednesday, with Park Woo-hyeok beating Elsharabaty Saleh of Jordan 2-0 in the men’s -80kg final to add Korea’s yet another gold Asiad medal in taekwondo.

The final at Lin'an Sports Culture Convention & Exhibition Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China was the last taekwondo match of the day.

Park scored five points in the early going of the first round and ended it at 8-5. He then made it 6-5 in the second round for a final score of 2-0, claiming Korea’s fifth gold in this year’s Asiad taekwondo.

Bronze for taekwondo practitioner Jin Ho-jun at Hangzhou Asian Games

Countryman Jin Ho-jun, on the other hand, secured a bronze earlier in the day after losing to Rashitov Ulugbek of Uzbekistan in the men’s -68kg semifinal.

In Asiad taekwondo, there is no third-place match, with the two losers from the semifinals both earning bronze.

Park’s gold wrapped up Korea’s taekwondo schedule on Wednesday. Korea has secured five gold, one silver and two bronze so far in taekwondo.

Taekwondo is one of the sports that Korea has the best chance of securing multiple medals in this year, as it has been the winningest country in the tournament with 90 medals to date.

The taekwondo schedule will wrap up on Thursday.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]