Korea added two gold medals and Russia took home one gold medal on the fourth day of the 2013 World Taekwondo Championships at the Exhibition Center in Puebla, Mexico on July 18, 2013.Korea’s Tae-hun Kim crushed Chinese Taipei’s Chia Lin Hsu 7-0 in the men’s -54kg final match to earn his country the gold medal.
Kim made his way to the final round by defeating his semifinal match opponent, Thailand’s Jerranat Nakaviroj, 10-4.
Chinese Taipei’s Hsu advanced to the final round as he outpointed his semifinal match opponent, Egypt’s Hussein Sherif, 5-3.
In the women’s -53kg final match, Korea’s Yu-jin Kim required a fourth sudden-death round to grab the gold medal against Croatia’s Ana Zaninovic.
Kim, the gold medal winner at the 2012 Korea Open, reached the final round by defeating Cuba’s Yamisel Nunez 4-1 in a semifinal match.
Croatia’s Ana Zaninovic advanced to the final round as she beat France’s Floriane Liborio, the bronze medal winner at the 2013 U.S. Open, 7-2 in a semifinal match.
In the women’s +73kg final match, Russia’s Olga Ivanova earned her country the gold medal as she beat her final-match opponent, Mexico’s Briseida Acosta, 8-3.
The Russian made her way to the final round by edging down France’s Anne-Caroline Graffe, the silver medal winner at the 2012 London Olympic Games, 13-12 in a semifinal match.
Mexico’s Acosta, the gold medal winner at the 2013 Swiss Open, advanced to the final match as she beat Serbia’s Ana Bajic 5-2 in a semifinal match.
The fifth day of the biennial championships, on July 19, will feature three weight categories: the men’s -87kg, the men’s +87kg and the women’s -73kg. The ongoing World Taekwondo Championships continue until July 21.
