Taekwondo Jin-ho Moon wins bronze medal in first appearance at Asian Games

(Toyohashi [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Dong-han = Jin-ho Moon (Korea National Sport University), a promising Korean taekwondo star, won a bronze medal in his first Asian Games.

Jin-ho Moon lost to Banrung Tuptimdang (Thailand) with a round score of 1-2 (9-0 0-14 5-5) in the men's 68kg semifinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Taekwondo Spar held at the Toyohashi General Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 3rd and failed to advance to the finals.

In the Asian Games Taekwondo Competition, bronze medals are awarded to both athletes who lost in the semifinals without a bronze medal match.

In the previous round of 16 and quarterfinals, Jin-ho Moon defeated Omar Khantuli (Palestine) and Samirhon Ababakirov (Kazakhstan), respectively, with a round score of 2-0.

In the semifinals, he won an overwhelming 9-0 victory, landing two overwhelming body attacks and one head attack in the first round.

However, in the second round, he allowed a body attack first, then gave up a series of attacks to the body and head, and even received a point deduction, resulting in a score of 0-10.

They rushed the attack to make up for it, but gave up 4 more points with a spinning body attack, losing 0-14.

In the last 3 rounds, while leading 1-0 due to a deduction from the opponent, he allowed a series of body attacks and fell behind 1-4. At the end, both teams were deducted to tie the score at 5-5, but lost in the superiority decision.

Jin-ho Moon stood out this year by winning the Ulaanbaatar Asian Championships, Chuncheon Korea Open, and Muju Grand Prix in succession.

Last year, he won the Fujairah Open, Wuxi Grand Slam Challenge, and Bangkok Grand Prix Challenge, and took a silver medal at the Nairobi Under-21 World Championships.

Although he did not reach the top of the Asian Games, he gained experience in international competitions by reaching the podium in his first appearance.

The Korean sparring team won bronze medals the day before, with Ahn Hyang-sik (Yongin University) in the men's 58kg class and Kwak Min-ju (Korea National Sports University) in the women's 67kg class winning bronze medals.