South Korea’s Park Tae-Joon won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s taekwondo flyweight division on Wednesday, beating Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov who withdrew from the match in the second and claimed silver.Tae-Joon, who won the World Championship title in the 54kg category last year, officially won only one round 9-0. When the match stopped, he was leading 13-1 in the second round.
Magomedov declared defeat, following several breaks to the game due to an apparent injury to his left leg. Tae-Joon’s win helps swing South Korea back to the forefront of the sport, in which it failed to win any medal at the previous Tokyo Games. South Korea, where taekwondo was born, still dominates the Olympics but has lately seen several other nations winning medals, becoming one of the most accessible sports.
France’s Cyrian Ravet and Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi won the bronze medals.
Meanwhile Panipak Wongpattanakit made history on Wednesday, becoming the first person from Thailand to win two gold medals when she defended her Tokyo title in the taekwondo women’s flyweight division against China’s Guo Qing. Panipak won 6-3 2-3 6-2, clinching the victory with two kicks to the head, which yielded three points each.
