Song Da-bin, 2026 Asian Games Taekwondo Women's Over-67kg Gold Medal

(Toyohashi [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Dong-han = Song Da-bin (Ulsan Metropolitan City Sports Council) saved the face of Korean Taekwondo competition by winning a gold medal in his first Asian Games.

Song Da-bin defeated Mu Wen-je (China) with a round score of 2-1 (4-2 4-10 8-5) in the women's over-67kg final of the Taekwondo Sparring at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Toyohashi General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 3rd.

It has been eight years since Lee Da-bin at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games that Korea has reached the top in this weight class.

Korea continued to win three consecutive competitions in this weight class, including the silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023.

With Song Da-bin's victory, Korean Taekwondo sparring has won gold medals in all 10 Asian Games since the 1986 Seoul Games, when it was first adopted as an official sport.

In addition, Korean Taekwondo won its third gold medal in this competition, following Yoon Gyu-seong and Jeong Ha-eun in the Poomsae men's and women's individual competition.

Song Da-bin, who defeated Ullah Al-Dosari (Bahrain) and Rama Abu Aloub (Jordan) 2-0 in the round of 16 and quarter-finals, respectively, defeated Fatemeh Ahmadi (Iran) 2-0 in the semifinals and advanced to the finals without giving up a single round.

In the first round of the finals, Song Da-bin engaged in a probing battle with Muwonjeo and successfully attacked the body twice to take a 4-0 lead. After that, they gave up 2 points, but maintained the lead with stable defense.

In the second round, attacks to the body and head were allowed in succession. We chased after with body attacks and deductions from the opponent, but at the last minute, additional points and deductions overlapped, giving up the round at 4-10.

In the last three rounds, he successfully attacked the body one after another, leading 4-0, and 50 seconds before the end, he ran away with a left-footed body attack to make it 6-2.

Afterwards, he allowed a head attack and was chased down 6-5, but he succeeded again with a body attack, ending the game at 8-5.

Song Da-bin, who won the women's over-73kg class at the Rhine-Ruhr Summer World University Games last year, was on the rise by winning her first regular Grand Prix gold medal at the Muju Grand Prix last month.

Song Da-bin, who learned Taekwondo with her older brother in elementary school, dreamed of becoming a member of the national team while watching the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and achieved another goal by reaching the top spot in her first Asian Games.