Vietnam claims gold medal at Asian Taekwondo Championships
Sunday, May 19, 2024, 10:14 GMT+7
Vietnamese martial artist Bac Thi Khiem on Saturday beat her Chinese opponent to claim the women’s 67kg weight class gold medal at the 2024 Asian Taekwondo Championships in Da Nang City, central Vietnam.
This is Khiem’s first gold medal in a continental competition.
Only Khiem among the five Vietnamese fighters emerged victorious, clinching a gold medal on the final day of kyorugi (combat).
The Vietnamese athlete was ranked as the fourth seed in the 67kg weight class.
She defeated Khussainova Nuray from Kazakhstan in the first round and then overwhelmed her South Korean competitor Kwak Min Ju to make it to the final.
The victory against Kwak Min Ju was not easy as the South Korean athlete surpassed the No.1 seed -- Sadeq Julyana from Jordan -- in the quarterfinal round.
In the final, Khiem beat Song Jie, the No. 3 seed from China.
The gold medal was meaningful to Khiem as she had failed to earn a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics two months earlier.
The 2024 Asian Taekwondo Championships took place from Tuesday to Saturday this week with a record of more than 1,000 athletes, coaches, officials, and staff from 45 countries and territories.
The number was some 700 in previous editions.
After five days of competition, Vietnam won two golds, one silver, and 11 bronzes in both poomsae (performance) and kyorugi (combat) events, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
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