Taiwan’s taekwondo team failed again in its quest for Olympic gold yesterday, with reigning world champions Sung Yu-chi (宋玉麒) and Su Li-wen (蘇麗文) failing to make the finals in their respective categories.
Sung, who was defeated by Son Tae-jin of South Korea — who went on to win the gold medal — in the semi-final, did, however, grab a consolation bronze medal, Taiwan’s fourth of the Games, when he defeated Germany’s Daniel Manz 4-3 in the repechage of the men’s 68kg category.
Sung, who advanced to the semi-final thanks to a 4-0 victory over New Zealand’s Logan Campbell in the preliminary round and a 3-2 defeat of Dmitriy Kim of Uzbekistan, showed great resolve following his defeat to the unheralded Son, beating Manz with a late kick to take the bronze and secure a repeat of Wednesday’s results, when teammate and Athens 2004 champion Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) also took bronze.
PHOTO: AP
Son later won the gold medal by beating 2005 world champion Mark Lopez of the US in the final, landing the decisive kick just three seconds before time.
European champion Servet Tazegul of Turkey took the other bronze, defeating Peter Lopez of Peru 1-0.
Su, meanwhile, who aggravated an old injury in her 1-0 first round defeat to South Korea’s Lim Su-jeong, battled into the bronze medal repechage match in a show of guts that would put Taiwan’s baseball team to shame, defeating New Zealand’s Robin Cheong 1-0 in her first repechage outing.
PHOTO: AP
But she suffered heartbreak in her bid for yet another Taiwanese bronze, losing 5-4 in sudden death to Croatia’s Martina Zubcic after the scores were tied at 4-4 following three agonizing rounds, during which she collapsed to the mat in pain on numerous occasions.
Speaking to FTV reporters last night, Su’s mother said “I’m really proud of her,” adding, “she fought with all her strength.”
Su’s conqueror Lim went on to win the gold, defeating Azize Tanrikulu of Turkey with a winning back kick just 20 seconds before the end of the match.
Diana Lopez of the US won the other bronze with a match-ending kick in overtime against Italy’s Veronica Calabrese.
After grabbing the bronze, Sung immediately kneeled before his coach and father Sung Ching-hung (宋景宏) to thank him for his long support and instruction and declared an end to his 20-year taekwondo career.
He said that what he wanted to do most was to walk over to his mother, who was sitting among the spectators, and give her a hug.
Sung’s father said that most of all he wanted to tell Sung’s grandmother: “Your grandson has succeeded!”
Sung Yu-chi said a bronze medal was not enough. He said he had adjusted well, managed to control his weight and felt that he should have won the gold, adding that it was a pity he didn’t win the semi-final match against South Korea’s Son as he should have.
Sung has previously had problems maintaining his weight, but he had a medical team with him in Beijing that had helped him to stop losing weight.
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