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S. Korean Son wins Olympic taekwondo men's 68kg gold
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-21 20:39
Son Tae-jin (R) of South Korea kicks Dennis Bekkers of the Netherlands during their men's -68kg preliminary round of 16 taekwondo match at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 21, 2008.[Agencies]
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Son Tae-jin won the men's 68kg category in the Olympic taekwondo tournament on Thursday, 10 minutes after his compatriot Lim Su-jeong claimed the women's 57kg class title.
Son, 21, had a narrow win of 3-2 over Mark Lopez of the United States. The desicive point was scored in the last second of the third round.
Son took the lead in the first round, scoring two points with roundhouse kicks. Lopez got one point with an axe kick on Son's shoulder in the second round, and started to change his tactics.
Lopez, who is taller than Son, tried to keep a proper distance to make effective attacks, while Son tried to get close to the opponent, which made him get a one point deduction.
In the last round, the two launched a series of attacks to each other and got one point each during the scuffle. Then Son kicked first.
The overjoyed burst into tears when hugging with his grey-haired coach, who also cried.
The bronze was shared by Sung Yu-chi of Chinese Taipei and Turkish player Servet Tazegul.
It's the second bronze Chinese Taipei got in taekwondo which started on Wednesday. On the first day of the events, Chu Mu-yen got the bronze in the men's 58kg class.
