▲ From left: Park Tae-joon, Bae Jun-seo, Seo Eun-soo, and Vito Dell'Aquila
Bae Jun-seo (Ganghwa County Office) claimed the top of the podium at the Muju Taekwond원 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix after securing a thrilling comeback victory against 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Park Tae-joon (Kyung Hee University).
On the opening day of the tournament held at the T1 Arena of the Muju Taekwondowon in North Jeolla Province on the 5th, Bae defeated Park 2-1 (9-15, 7-2, 14-13) in the men's 58kg final to capture the gold medal.
In the final round, Bae was trailing 6-13 in the final third round before making up 2 points with a trunk attack. With 3 seconds remaining, he scored 4 points with a spinning back kick to the trunk, followed by 2 additional points from a penalty given to Park for stepping out of the boundary, completing a dramatic 14-13 turnaround victory.
Bae, who earned his ticket to this tournament by winning the Muju Grand Prix Challenge last year, defeated world-class athlete Abolfazl Zandi of Iran 2-1 in the round of 16, and edged out Seo Eun-soo (Korea National Sport University), the men's 54kg winner of the Wuxi World Championships last year, 2-0 in the semifinals.
Park secured a 2-1 comeback victory over 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Vito Dell'Aquila of Italy in the semifinals, but failed to clear the final hurdle.
Seo Eun-soo claimed the bronze medal, while Ahn Hyang-shik (Yong In University), who will compete in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, was defeated by Seo in the round of 32.
In the women's 49kg division held on the same day, Fu Xiaolu of China defeated Liu Yu-yun of Chinese Taipei 2-0 in the final to take the title.
Kim Hyang-gi (Korea National Sport University), Lee Yu-min (Gwanak High School), and Lee Ye-ji (Jemulpo District Office) competed in this weight class but failed to medal.
(Photo courtesy of Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, Yonhap News)
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