Vietnam takes gold at World Taekwondo champs
Vietnam won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships which was wrapped up in Colombia on December 10.
The squad of five pocketed their title in the freestyle event with a total of 7,970 points.
The Philippines ranked second with 270 points less. China, one of the title favourites, were third, on 7,670 points.
However in the other final later, champions Nguyen Dinh Toan and Nguyen Minh Tu failed to defend their crown, finishing second in the mixed-pairs under-20 category.
Toan and Tu took the lead in the group round and entered the final as the strongest pair. They scored 7,520 points.
However their performance was not as successful as Qiao Zhi and Quan Xue Yan from China who earned 7,535 points to take the gold medal. Toan and Tu were left with silver.
World champion Toan also failed to shine at the men’s single event as he ranked fifth overall.
With one gold, six silver and one bronze medals, Vietnam came sixth out of 21 teams.
Coach Le Minh Khuong shared Best Coach title with the Republic of Korea’s Jae Jin Kang.
The Republic of Korea proved their No 1 with eight golds, two silvers and one bronze. They were followed by Iran who bagged two golds, three silvers and three bronzes and the US with two golds, one silver and one bronze.
The result was a disappointment for Vietnam which had targeted at least three gold medals, as they did last year.