TAEKWONDO’S GOLDEN STREAK CONTINUE’S FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE DAY AS KOREAN PRIDE TAKES CENTRE STAGE
There has been a sense of crisis in the Korean taekwondo world for quite some time. While the sport’s international profile has been growing day by day thanks to the Hallyu craze, the leveling of the playing field between countries has led to a decline in the international competitiveness of the national team. This is especially true for the women’s taekwondo team. The women’s team, which used to win medals in every event they competed in, hasn’t been able to perform well at international competitions for some time. And it wasn’t just on the world stage. Korean women’s taekwondo faltered in Asia as well. “The quality of athletes in Europe, North America, and Asia has improved significantly,” says Jeong Eul-jin, the national taekwondo team’s head coach, “so it’s hard to expect many gold medals at the Asian Games. “In fact, the women’s taekwondo team won just one of their five gold medals at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games (Idabin, women’s over 67kg).The outlook for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games was not promising either .South Korea had targeted three gold medals in the pre-event competition, all of which were expected to come from the men’s team and mixed team events. However, on the second day of competition, Park Hye-jin (Goyang City Hall) restored the nation’s pride when she won the women’s 53kg category .Park was not the favourite to win, but she showed a fearsome concentration to take the gold. She defeated Lin Wei-jun of Taiwan, who was 13cm taller than her (167cm), by a round score of 2-1 in the final at the Lin’an Sports and Cultural Exhibition Centre in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China .The victory puts South Korea on target to win two gold medals in the poomsae and two in the taekwondo after 26 days.On the first day of taekwondo competition, men’s and women’s national champions Kang Wan-jin (Hongcheon Cheonan Office) and Cha Ye-eun (Kyung Hee University) both won gold on the 24th, followed by ace Jang Jun (Korea Gas Corporation) on the 25th.Korea is also on course to surpass its 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games results (two poomsae, three kyokushin).On the 27th, men’s 68kg Jin Ho-joon (Suwon City Hall), men’s 80kg Park Woo-hyuk (Samsung S-One) and women’s 67kg Kim Zandi (Samsung S-One) will be in action. Jin is a Korean taekwondo hopeful who won a silver medal in his first appearance at the World Championships in May, while Park is 카지노사이트 last year’s world champion. Both are coming off gold medals.