Taekwondo's Moon Jin-ho and Song Da-bin Win Joint Gold Medals at Muju Grand Prix... Green Light for Asian Games Medals

Taekwondo athletes Moon Jin-ho (Korea National Sport University) and Song Da-bin (Ulsan City Athletic Association), who will compete in the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, secured matching gold medals in Muju.

On the 7th, at the T1 Arena of the Muju Taekwondowon in North Jeolla Province, Moon Jin-ho defeated Marko Golubic of Croatia with a round score of 2-0 (7-0, 13-7) in the final of the men's 68kg division at the Muju Taekwondowon 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix to claim the top spot.

After an exploratory phase in the first round, Moon landed a head kick with his right foot for three points, and added a trunk attack and an opponent penalty to win 7-0.

He displayed an even more dominant performance in the second round.

Right from the start, he scored two points with a side kick and, maintaining momentum, evaded Golubic's desperate descending kick to counter with a spinning kick, ultimately succeeding with a head attack to secure the gold medal.

Moon triumphed at last year's Fujairah Open, Wuxi Grand Slam Challenge, and Bangkok Grand Prix Challenge, and also won a silver medal at the Nairobi U-21 World Championships.

Having topped the podium at the Ulaanbaatar Asian Championships in May and the Chuncheon Korea Open in July, Moon continued his upward trajectory ahead of his first-ever Asian Games.

Reflecting on the match, Moon said, "I prepared desperately because I wanted to win, and it seems my preparations paid off well on the court. I practiced a lot on scoring while engaging with opponents, and those scores came out well in the match."

He added, "I will carry this momentum forward, prepare diligently, and win at the Asian Games."
 
Competing in the women's over-67kg division, Song Da-bin claimed a thrilling comeback victory with a round score of 2-1 (7-9, 11-10, 12-7) against Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Anastasiia Kosmicheva in the final to capture the gold medal.

Having settled for a silver medal after losing 0-2 to Kosmicheva in the final of last year's Muju Grand Prix Challenge, Song exacted revenge at the same venue a year later to claim her first regular Grand Prix title.

After narrowly dropping the first round, Song engaged in a fierce slugfest in the second round, trading trunk attacks toward the end to secure an 11-10 victory.

In the third round, trailing 5-7 with 12 seconds remaining, she successfully executed consecutive trunk and head attacks, also drawing a penalty to turn the score around to 12-7.

Following the match, Song stated, "There were moments when it was difficult due to an ankle injury during the competition. Since I lost to Kosmicheva at the Muju Grand Prix Challenge last year, I had a strong desire to win this time. I am thrilled to have won."

She continued, "Until before this tournament, there were trial and errors, so I didn't know if I could win a medal at the Asian Games. With the momentum gained from this tournament, I will definitely win at the Asian Games."

(Photo: Provided by World Taekwondo, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.