Korea wins most medals at Taekwondo Grand Prix

By Nam Hyun-woo

Kim Hun with a gold medal for Korea after winning the 2015 World Taekwondo Federation Grand Prix Series in the men’s -68 kilogram category, in Moscow, Sunday. / Courtesy of World Taekwondo Federation

Korea claimed three gold medals, one silver and two bronze at the World Taekwondo Federation Grand Prix Series in Moscow, Russia.

It is the best performance the Korean national team has had in the international competition.

On Sunday (local time), the final day of the three-day event, Kim Hun of Korea beat his compatriot Lee Dae-hoon in a golden point extra round after a 12-12 draw in the men’s -68 kilogram final.

Adding to two gold by Kim So-hui and Oh Hye-ri in the women’s divisions, the Koreans collected the most medals at the competition, followed by Iran with two gold and one bronze and Turkey with one gold and one bronze.

In the final at Dinamo Krylatskoye Gymnasium, Kim and Lee displayed a highly contested fight. Kim, world No. 16, took the early lead, scoring with a series of spinning kicks to wrap up the first round 7-1. However, world No. 3 Lee forced Kim a point-for-point game, narrowing the difference to 8-7 in the second round.

After sharing points in the third round, Lee managed to tie the score 12-12 six seconds before the round ended. After they entered the golden point round, where the first player to score wins the match, Kim landed a left-footed round kick in Lee’s body and clinched his first Grand Prix gold.

The kick gave Kim not only the gold and $5,000 prize money but also his first win against Lee. Kim suffered losses in two previous fights against Lee.

Kim won global attention when he beat Turkey’s Servet Tazegul, the champion of the 2012 Olympics -68 kilogram and the 2015 Chelyabinsk World Championships featherweight, 16-9 in the round of 16 and Spain’s Joel Gonzalez Bonilla, the 2012 Games -58 kilogram gold medalist, in the quarterfinals which also went into a golden point round.