The post ‘Lee Dae-hoon’ Jin Ho-joon (Suwon City Hall) won the World Taekwondo Grand Prix to end the disappointment of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games appeared first on Taipei Times.The Korean won the men’s 68kg final of the third series of the Taiyuan 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix at the Taiyuan Shanxi Sports Center in Taiyuan, China, on Monday with a 2-0 (10-6 7-6) round robin victory over Suleiman Alephilippe of France.He was taken down early in the second round after allowing a surprise body attack, but managed to find a gap in his opponent’s defense and land a body attack to take a 7-6 lead.

In the semifinals of the day, Jin was in top form as he defeated Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Ulugbek Rashitov of Uzbekistan in straight sets, 2-0 (8-6 4-2).Jin had lost to Ulugbek in the semifinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games, but the victory was significant as he avenged his loss in the final.Born in 2002, Jin is the next ace of Korean taekwondo.He made a name for himself by winning the Manchester Grand Prix last year and then in May of this year, he won a silver medal at his first ever World Championships, making him a household name in the men’s 68-kilogram category.

“I was stressed because I hadn’t won any international tournaments recently, so it feels great to get the win I’ve been waiting for,” Jin told WT after the match, “I beat Rasitov in the semifinals, which I thought was difficult, and then I made it easy in the final.”With the win, Jin added 60.00 ranking points to his tally and improved his chances of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.One spot for taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be awarded to each country with a top-five ranked athlete in each weight class.Jin is currently ranked ninth in the Olympic rankings and his automatic qualification will be determined by the outcome of the Manchester Grand Prix Final in December.In the men’s 80kg category, Seo Gun-woo (Korea Gymnastics Federation) won the silver medal with a narrow 1-2 (2-4 8-8 10-16) round score over his final opponent, Katoussi Firas (Tunisia).

Park Woo-hyuk (Samsung S-One), who won the same weight class at the Hangzhou Asian Games, was unable to perform to his best ability due to a severe weight cut.Park, ranked eighth in the Olympic rankings, failed to earn any ranking points, while Seo, ranked 13th, earned 36.00 points to move into the top 10.They will compete in the Manchester Grand Prix Final for the automatic Olympic berth.Grand Prix Final gold is worth 100.00 points, silver is worth 60.00 points and bronze is worth 36.00 points.The men’s 80-kilogram category is a vulnerable one for the South Korean team, which hasn’t qualified since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, when taekwondo became 온라인카지노 an Olympic sport.