Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) took the silver medal in the women’s 49kg category at the World Taekwondo Championships yesterday in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Yang recorded impressive victories in her march to the final, but she could not overcome China’s Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺) and lost 6-2 in the final.
Yang is competing internationally for the first time since being suspended for three months by the World Taekwondo Federation in December last year for staging a sit-down protest and refusing to leave the mat following her disqualification in her opening bout at last year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on Nov. 17.
Yang told the media before she left for South Korea that she “would not overthink” the situation and would simply concentrate on putting forth her best effort in each bout.
However, she said her ultimate goal is to win at next year’s London Summer Olympics.
Ho Feng-yen (何豐彥), secretary-general of the nation’s taekwondo association, said yesterday that he is optimistic that Yang would win the World Qualification Tournament scheduled for June 30 in Azerbaijan.
He said the fact that Yang reached the finals proved that her techniques are truly on an international level.
Ho also said Yang did not appear at her best in this tournament because she only resumed her training in early March.
Meanwhile, fellow Taiwanese taekwondo competitor Wei Chen-yang (魏辰洋) took the bronze medal in the men’s 58kg category.
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