Nagoya:South Korea was unable to secure a gold medal on the opening day of taekwondo sparring matches at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing only two bronze medals with another day of competition remaining.
According to Yonhap News Agency, An Hyang-sik claimed bronze in the men's -58 kilogram division in "kyorugi," or sparring, after being defeated 2-1 by Tamirlan Tleules of Kazakhstan in the semifinals at Toyohashi Gymnasium. In a similar outcome, Kwak Min-ju took bronze in the women's -67kg category after losing 2-0 to Ozoda Sobirjonova of Uzbekistan in the semifinals. The tournament rules awarded bronze medals to all semifinal losers, as there were no third-place contests.
Earlier, Lee Yu-min and Kang Jae-gwon were both eliminated in the quarterfinals of their respective events, the women's 49kg and men's -80kg categories. Kyorugi matches are structured in best-of-three rounds, each lasting two minutes, with scores and penalties reset after each round.
An Hyang-sik, who also participated in virtual taekwondo earlier, tied 4-4 in the first round against Tleules, won the second round 2-0, but lost the third round on points due to Tleules landing a head kick. An was aiming to become South Korea's third consecutive Asiad champion in his weight class.
Kwak's match against Sobirjonova was decisively won by the Uzbek athlete, who took the first round 13-3 and the second 21-2, benefiting from three head kicks.
Despite being the birthplace of taekwondo, South Korea has not seen a champion in Kwak's weight division since 2006. The nation has, however, secured five gold medals at the 2023 Asian Games, including two in poomsae, the non-contact discipline. South Korea continues to await its first kyorugi gold medal at this competition.