Taiwan’s Lo Chia-ling on Sunday won silver in the women’s 62kg division at the Belgian Open taekwondo competition in Lommel, her first international podium finish since the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The two-time Olympian advanced to the final after defeating Spain’s Ekaterina Rebon Fedorova, but lost to Turkey’s Hatice Pinar Yigitalp to finish second.
Lo, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, had been struggling with a stress fracture in her left leg and underwent surgery last year.
Photo courtesy of Liu Tsung-ta via CNA
Her coach, Liu Tsung-ta, on Sunday said that her training over the past year had been limited, in an effort to avoid aggravating the injury, but based on her performance in Belgium, Lo appears to have recovered well, physically and mentally.
The team are now focused on building Lo’s fitness and strength as she targets a berth at the Asian Games in Nagoya this fall, Liu said.
Many athletes face mental challenges when recovering from major injuries, he said, adding that a sports psychologist has been brought in to work with Lo ahead of the Asian Taekwondo Championships in May, a key qualifier for the Asian Games.
Given Lo’s current progress, Liu said that he remains confident about her performance.
Taiwanese athletes won three silver and three bronze medals in Belgium.
Hsu Hao-yu and Wang Chieh-ling secured silver medals in the men’s 68kg and women’s 47kg divisions respectively.
Lin Wei-chun, Liu You-yun and Tsai Yu-hao took bronze in the women’s 57kg, women’s 49kg and men’s 68kg categories respectively.
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