Two Taiwanese taekwondo athletes, Chin I-chun (金怡君) and Chiu Yi-jui (邱義睿), won silver and bronze medals respectively in their division finals at the World University Games in Germany yesterday.
Competing in the women's +73kg division, Chin received a bye in the qualification round and went on to win her next two matches to advance to the semi-finals, where she faced Poland's Dagmara Haremza.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Despite her height disadvantage, Chin held her ground in a tightly contested first round, forcing her opponent into two penalties for losing her balance to win the round 2-1.
Although she fell behind in the second round due to a penalty, Chin seized a late opportunity in the final seconds to reverse the score and again win the round 2-1, earning her a 2-0 victory and a spot in the gold medal contest against Song Dabin of South Korea.
Despite her strong defensive efforts, Chin was unable to effectively fend off her Song's attacks and was repeatedly struck with head-level kicks.
She ultimately lost the match 2-0 to take a silver medal for Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Chiu, who won a silver medal at the previous World University Games in China's Chengdu in 2021, moved up from the men's 68kg to the 74kg division in Germany.
He advanced to the semi-finals without dropping a single round, but then fell to Georgia's Zurab Kintsurashvili 2-0 (losing 9-6 and 11-8 in the two rounds) in the semi-finals to settle for a bronze.
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