BANGKOK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — South Korean taekwondo players overpowered their opponents as they claimed three out of the four gold medals on offer here on Thursday at the 24th Universiade.
Heo Jung Nyoung, Hyun Kyoung Hwa and Jung Sun Young triumphed in men’s over 84kg, women’s over 72kg and 72kg divisions respectively.
“Every player here wants to win and has the potential to win,” said South Korean coach So Byung Kwan.
Only the Irani delegation made a little trouble to the South Koreans as world champion Yousef Karami claimed the title in men’s84 category.
His compatriot Morteza Rostami, who is also a gold medalist in 2003 World Taekwondo Championships, almost stopped Heo Jung Nyoung, gold medalist in last year’s China Open International Taekwondo Championships, in the semi-final.
The duel was so tough that they tied 7-7 even after the sudden-death round. Finally, Heo advanced to the final through referees’ judgment.
Chinese players Wang Mengli was eliminated in the quarterfinal while Ding He failed his first round.
“All the participants to the Universiade taekwondo competitions are very skilful and what we can do is just to fight in every round,” said Liu Zhanlu, coach of the Chinese taekwondo delegation.