MUJU, Korea (Jul 16, 2023) - USA won gold on day two of the Muju Taekwondowon 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Challenge as Korea and Chinese Taipei added further golds to their medal haul.

 

In the men’s -68kg, an all Korean final paired Sang ryeol Lee against Kang-eun Seo. Lee had not lost a round in his previous matches and looked to replicate that in the final as he won the first round 11-3. A tighter second round brought the scores closer but again it was Lee who was too strong as he won the round 8-2 to take the gold. Eunseok Jang of Korea won 2:0 in the bronze medal match against Buyanshagai Enkhbold of Mongolia.

 

In the women’s -67kg, Kristina Teachout from the USA faced Jui‐en Chang from Chinese Taipei. A closely fought opening round went the way of Chang but Teachout fought back in impressive fashion to comfortably win the second and third rounds to take the gold. Tanya Suh of Korea won bronze as she overcame Vietnam’s Thi khiem Bac in two straight rounds.

 

The last final of the day was in the men’s -80kg between Chinese Taipeo’s Yu-jen Huang and Jiun-yi Hung. Neither fighter was able to break through their opponent’s defence in the first 90 seconds of round one but in the last 30 seconds Huang was able to land two kicks to the body and won the round 4-0. The second round followed a similar pattern and once again Huang pulled away in the closing stages to win 6-0. Jack woody Mercer of Tahiland beat Jun Seo Lee 2:1 in the bronxe medal match.

 

The gold and silver medallists from each weight category will compete in the Taiyuan 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix in October. Where the gold and silver medallists are from the same nation, the qualification place will go to the next highest placed athlete.