Taekwondo Women's 57kg class Kim Yoo-jin defeated 'world's 4th place' to advance to the semifinals
Aug 08, 2024
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Kim Yu-jin won 2-0 (7-69-5) against Skyla Park of Canada in the women's 57kg quarterfinals of the women's taekwondo at the 2024 Paris Olympics at Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 8th (Korea time). Kim Yoo-jin, who defeated the strong, succeeded in advancing to the semifinals.
Skyla Park was ranked fourth in the world and ranked third at the 2019 World Championships. He is also a strong player who won the 2023 Chinese Grand Prix.
Kim Yoo-jin was dragged away early in the first round, allowing a head attack. Soon after, he succeeded in kicking his body, and the opponent's deduction brought the game to square one. The video review has become a stroke of genius. The head attack was acknowledged and led 6-3. They exchanged points to make it 7-4, allowing a torso attack, but fortunately, they spent the rest of their time well and won 7-6.
In the second round, Kim Yoo-jin's head attack was fierce in the middle. He even succeeded in attacking his torso and won the game 5-0. After that, he was chased to 5-3 due to a body attack and a deduction, but he succeeded in attacking his head once again and effectively won the game. Two points were deducted for the rest of the time, but they won the game 9-5.
Kim Yu-jin defeated Hatizet Ilguin (Turkiye) 2-0 (7-57-2) in the previous round of 16. The first game was a formidable opponent. According to the World Taekwondo Federation, Kim Yu-jin was ranked 24th and Ilguin was 5th. Ilguin is a strong player who won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Games earlier.
In the first round, Kim Yu-jin won three points first with a head attack. It was then canceled due to a video review, but once again, he succeeded in a head attack and took a 6-0 lead to win the game. He was then followed by a fierce chase by Ilguin. He was chased 6-5, allowing a series of head and torso attacks. However, the opponent's points overlapped and took the first round 7-5.
Kim Yoo-jin's head attack also worked in the second round. He hit 6-0 with success after success. He was chased down to 6-2 with two points, but won 7-2 with the opponent's points.
Kim Yu-jin won the ticket to Paris after many twists and turns. In January, the Korea Taekwondo Association decided to challenge for the women's 57kg Olympic ticket through an internal meeting, and in February, through its own selection, Kim Yu-jin was decided to compete in Asia. Kim Yu-jin beat Juli Mom (Cambodia) in the semifinals of the Asian Trials held in Taian, China, in March to win a ticket to Paris given to the top two in each weight class.
This weight class is deeply related to Korean Taekwondo. From the 2000 Sydney Games, when taekwondo first became an official sport, to the 2008 Beijing Games, Jeong Jae-eun, Jang Ji-won, and Lim Soo-jung won gold medals in this weight class in turn. However, no athlete won a medal in this weight class until the Tokyo Games later. Kim Yoo-jin, who has the advantage of attacking with his long legs, is considered a dark horse in this tournament.
Korean Taekwondo started fresh with Park Tae-joon (Kyung Hee University) winning the gold medal in the men's 58kg class.
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
