Taiwan takes taekwondo gold

HARD-FOUGHT: After losing the first round, the young Taiwanese taekwondo practitioner had to fight back, winning the second and third rounds to take gold

Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Cheng Po-yu won the men’s 55kg division at the Dakar Youth Olympic Games in Senegal on Monday, securing Taiwan’s second gold medal at the Games.

Cheng defeated Uzbekistan’s Asadbek Samandarov 2-1 in a comeback victory in the final bout.

Facing the World Junior Championships gold medalist, Cheng fell behind after losing the opening round 0-2 in a closely contested fight.

Cheng Po-yu celebrates after winning the men’s taekwondo 55kg division yesterday at the Youth Olympic Games, Taiwan’s second gold for the competition.

Photo: CNA

Cheng then leveled the match on points in the second round before making a decisive breakthrough in the final round.

With 26 seconds remaining, Cheng scored crucial points and held on to win the round 6-4, clinching the gold medal.

With the victory, Cheng, a student at Taoyuan Municipal Pingjen Senior High School, became the third Taiwanese athlete to win a Youth Olympics gold medal in taekwondo, following Huang Huai-hsuan and Huang Yu-jen, who triumphed at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games.

Cheng’s gold medal was the second won by a Taiwanese athlete at this year’s Youth Olympics, after table tennis player Chen Min-hsin secured the women’s singles title on Thursday.

After the match, Taiwan team coach Chang Chiung-fang said Samandarov was considered Cheng’s biggest rival when the competitors were announced.

The final was a tense and thrilling competition, and Cheng’s gold medal was “well deserved,” Chang said, adding that he had shown improved footwork.

Cheng said he would be excited to see his achievement recognized at his school in the same way as alumnus Lee Meng-en, who has been featured on a large poster on display at the school since competing in the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games.

Before the final on Monday, Chang joked that Cheng should attempt to “take Lee’s spot” at the school.