Seo Kun-woo defeated Joaquin Churchill of Chile 2-1 (6-8 16-16 14-1) and reached the quarterfinals in the men’s 80kg taekwondo round of the 2024 Paris Olympics held at Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 9th.
Seo Kun-woo got off to a shaky start, giving up 6-8 in the first round.
In the second round, Seo was shaken by the opponent team’s strong attack. With 34 seconds left, the score was 6-15, a whopping nine points difference. It was difficult to reverse the trend through the remaining time. If he lost like this, Seo had no choice but to be eliminated early in the round of 16.
A dramatic twist has begun. Seo Kun-woo scored eight points by subtracting points from the opponent team, and secured four points by swinging a kick. He was deducted to make it 11-16, but succeeded in attacking his torso again to catch up with 13-16. He scored two points again with one second left, widening the gap to one point. The score was tied at 16-16, as Churchill, who avoided attacking right before the end, received additional points.
After the second round, the referee declared Churchil’s victory. Then, coach Oh Hye-ri of the national team went up on the mat and actively protested.
In a tiered rotation, the winner is decided in the order of the player with more points earned in the rotation, the player with more points in the order of head-body-fist-deductible score, and the player with more effective hitting in the electronic ball. After Oh’s protest, the judges reviewed the matter and reversed it with Seo’s victory.
While barely entering the third round, Seo Kun-woo won the cold game and succeeded in turning the tables by making a 13-point difference with his overwhelming skills.
Seo Kun-woo, who was born in 2003 and is considered a Korean Taekwondo heavyweight, won the World Taekwondo Federation (WT) World Grand Prix Final in December last year and got a ticket to Paris.
Korea has yet to win a medal in this weight class. From the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when taekwondo became an official Olympic sport, to the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, it failed to send even athletes in the men’s 80kg class.
Seo Kun-woo is aiming for the gold medal in Korean taekwondo for three consecutive days. Earlier, Park Tae-joon of men’s 58kg class and Kim Yoo-jin of women’s 57kg class won gold medals for two consecutive days.
BY: 안전놀이터