Kim Hun wins silver at Taekwondo Worlds

Korea’s Kim Hoon, right, and Iran’s Behnam Asbaghikhanghah exchange kicks during the men’s under-68-kilogram final match at the World Taekwondo Championships in Puebla, Mexico, Thursday. / Korea Times

By Jung Min-ho

PUEBLA, Mexico – Kim Hun, 21, won a silver medal in the men’s under-68-kilogram category after a bitter loss at the final match against Behnam Asbaghikhanghah of Iran at the World Taekwondo Championships Thursday.

The 2011 Summer Universiade champion struggled to break the Iranian’s tight defense but fell to a 4-5 defeat at the Centro Expositor.

Kim’s last left kick grazed Asbaghikhanghah’s body just before the final whistle, but it was disallowed. Kim hit the mat with his hands and burst into tears after the match.

“The result is very disappointing. I put so much effort into this event,” Kim told reporters.

Kim got off to a shaky start by losing the first point to Asbaghikhanghah out of the gate. Kim’s round kick soon equalized the score, but Asbaghikhanghah went ahead to finish the first round 2-1.

Kim attacked more aggressively but he could only manage to break Asbaghikhanghah’s defense once more in the second round, giving up one point.

Kim’s left round kick in the third round again tied the score but Asbaghikhanghah took the lead again and kept it until the end.

Kim seemed determined but lacked sharpness. His kicks were too concentrated on Asbaghikhanghah’s body and did not make the best use of his 188-centimeter height. And the Iranian’s defense was too strong and unconventional to break.

“It was the first match against him,” Kim said. “I prepared for such style but he was trickier than I expected.”

Korea’s Kim Jan-di, who participated in the women’s under-67-kilogram class, lost to Haby Niaré of France 4-5 in her round-of-16 match.

Niaré later defeated Chia Chia Chuang of Chinese Taipei 5-4 to pick up France’s first gold medal in the event.

After the first three days, Korea is at the top of the medal count with two golds, one silver and one bronze, followed by Mexico with one gold and one bronze and Thailand, Iran and France with one gold each.

The third-day competition will resume with the men’s under-54-kilogram, the women’s under-53-kilogram and over-73-kilogram matches.