▲ South Korean taekwondo athlete Moon Jin-ho competes against Thailand's Banlung Tubtimdang in the men's 68kg kyorugi semifinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Toyohashi General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 3rd.
Promising South Korean taekwondo athlete Moon Jin-ho (Korea National Sport University) has claimed a bronze medal at his very first Asian Games.
Moon fell to Banlung Tubtimdang of Thailand with a round score of 1-2 (9-0, 0-14, 5-5) in the semifinals of the men's 68kg taekwondo kyorugi event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held today at the Toyohashi General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Asian Games taekwondo kyorugi awards bronze medals to both athletes who lose in the semifinals, without holding a third-place playoff.
In the earlier round of 16 and quarterfinals, Moon defeated Omar Hantouli of Palestine and Samirkhon Ababakirov of Kazakhstan respectively with identical 2-0 round scores.
In the semifinals, he dominated the first round by successfully landing two torso attacks and one head attack for a resounding 9-0 victory.
However, in the second round, he first allowed a torso attack followed by consecutive torso and head attacks, and after receiving a penalty, fell behind 0-10.
He hurried his attacks to catch up, but conceded 4 more points from a spinning torso attack to lose 0-14.
In the final third round, after taking a 1-0 lead due to an opponent's penalty, he allowed consecutive torso attacks to fall behind 1-4.
Late in the round, both received penalties to tie the score at 5-5, but Moon fell behind in the supremacy decision.
Moon has previously made a name for himself by consecutively sweeping titles this year at the Ulaanbaatar Asian Championships, Chuncheon Korea Open, and Muju Grand Prix.
Last year, he won championships at the Fujairah Open, Wuxi Grand Slam Challenge, and Bangkok Grand Prix Challenge, while also capturing a silver medal at the Nairobi U-21 World Championships.
Although he missed out on the top of the Asian Games podium, he gained valuable multi-sport international competition experience by making the podium in his first appearance.
The South Korean kyorugi national team saw Ahn Hyang-shik (Yong In University) in the men's 58kg and Kwak Min-joo (Korea National Sport University) in the women's 67kg claim bronze medals yesterday.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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