Bae Jun-seo wins Korea's first gold at Taekwondo Championships

Bae Jun-seo (23) has acquired the first gold medal for South Korea at the World Taekwondo Championships.

Bae won the gold medal in the final of the men's 58-kilogram competition at the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships at Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, with a 2-0 round score over Russia's neutral qualifier Gregory Gurdjieff (23). It was the first gold medal for a South Korean athlete and Bae's second individual World Championship gold at the event. Bae won gold in the men's 54-kilogram competition at the Manchester Championships in 2019 and bronze in the men's 54-kilogram category at the Guadalajara event last year. South Korea fielded athletes in all 16 weight classes for both men and women at the current event.

After gaining a score with a fist attack (1 point) 22 seconds into the first round of the final, Bae scored two body attacks (2 points) and one head attack (3 points) to secure a commanding 8-2 lead, before adding the opponent’s two penalties (1 point) to end the first round with a 10-2 win. In the second round, Bae landed five body attacks and one fist attack to post 15-5 overall, or a 10-point gap, to seal the victory.

It is the first time in four years since Bae won a gold medal at the 2019 World Championships. "The last four years have been tough, and I've had a lot of injuries," he said. “I've been training hard without giving up, and it paid off. I will continue to work hard for the rest of the year to prepare for next year's Olympic Games.”


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com