By Jung Min-ho
PUEBLA, Mexico ― Korea got off to a flying start by sweeping two gold medals Tuesday at the 21st World Taekwondo Championships as Kim So-hui, 19, and Cha Tae-moon, 22, topped the podium.
Kim defeated Anastasia Valueva of Russia 8-7 in the women’s under-46-kilogram category to defend her title she won in Gyeongju, Korea, two years ago.
“It feels great,” Kim told reporters after the final match.
“I want to eat chicken. I have lost about three to four kilograms since I came here.”
Kim earned the first two points with a spinning back kick to Valueva’s body.
Kim added one point with her pushing kick in the second round but lost one for warnings accumulated.
When her spinning and back kicks widened the gap to 8-1 in the third round, her victory seemed near. But Valueva counterattacked, connecting her roundhouse kicks to Kim’s head and body in a flash, to make the score 9-8.
After the video replay, the Russian’s three points were removed to give the lead back to Kim and she kept it until the final whistle.
“Her last kick did not hit me,” Kim said. “But (even in the worst scenario) I still believed that I could turn the match around when I saw my coach’s eyes.”
She said her stamina decreased drastically after the first two rounds.
“The adjustment training before the competition was very helpful,” Kim said. “Without the enough training it would have been more difficult. In fact, I had a tough time adjusting to the environment when I came to Mexico two years ago for the competition.”
The Korean team came to the venue a week before the competition to have enough time to adjust to the high-altitude environment as the town is more than 2,000 meters above sea level. The athletes also had special adjustment training at Seoul’s Kyunghee University.
“When I won the World Championships gold medal in 2011, I really did not know the value of it,” Kim said. “But this time I do after lots of effort and tears during the training.”
Cha beat Mostean Loron Hadi of Iran 9-8 in the men’s under-58-kilogram final to become a gold medalist in his first international contest.
“It hasn't really sunk in, to be honest,” Cha said. “I came here to do as much as I can, but I really did not expect to win all the way.”
Cha capitalized on his greater height and longer legs, hovering around the opponent like a boxer.
Hadi seemed dominant initially with more kicks and more aggressive strategies but failed to make it count.
The competition will resume with the men’s under-74-kilogram and the women’s under-49-kilogram events.