South Korea collected two gold medals in taekwondo's poomsae at the 19th Asian Games in China on Sunday, asserting dominance in its traditional martial art on the first day of competition.
Kang Wan-jin got the ball rolling by taking the men's individual title over Ma Yun Zhong of Chinese Taipei at Lin'an Sports Culture & Exhibition Centre in Hangzhou. Kang had 8.000 points in his first routine and 7.460 points in the next one. Ma had 7.880 points and then 7.080 points.
It was Kang's second career Asiad gold, following his team title from eight years ago in Jakarta.
Only minutes later, Cha Yea-eun followed suit by claiming the women's individual title over Yuiko Niwa of Japan.
Cha scored 7.860 points in her first routine and 7.220 points in the second one, while Niwa managed only 7.620 and 6.700 points.
Cha became the country's first female gold medalist in poomsae at the Asiad. The discipline became an official Asian Games event in 2018, and South Korean women won bronze in individual poomsae and silver in team poomsae that year.
South Korea matched its poomsae gold medal total from 2018, but won't have a chance to surpass that because there are no team events in Hangzhou.
Poomsae consists of a series of attack and defense moves performed in a sequence.
From the preliminary round to the quarterfinals, practitioners performed "recognized" poomsae routines. From the semifinals and onward, they performed a recognized routine for the first program and then did a freestyle routine for the next program.
There were seven judges on the panel, and the average score of the five judges, excluding the highest and the lowest points, was the final score.
Kang was rarely threatened on his way to the top of the podium, dispatching one opponent after another comfortably. He has won every major international title in sight in recent months, including the world championships and the Asian championships last year.
Cha, on the other hand, survived a scare in the quarterfinals, just beating Thi Kim Ha Nguyen of Vietnam by 7.830 to 7.820 points in average score after two programs.
Cha, who typically excels in freestyle, thrived in that setting in the semifinals and then in the final.
Source: Yonhap News Agency