South Korea’s national taekwondo team member Seo Geon-woo is competing against Chile’s Joaquin Churchil in the men’s 80kg class round of 16 match at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on the afternoon of the 9th (Korean time).

The third runner of the Taekwondo national team, Seo Geon-woo (21, Korea National Sport University), has barely made it to the quarterfinals of the men’s 80kg class.

Seo Geon-woo won 2-1 (6-8 16-16 14-1) against Joaquin Churchill Martinez (Chile) in the round of 16 of the men’s 80kg class Taekwondo at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 9th (Korean time).

It was not an easy match from the first gate of the tournament.

Seo Geon-woo took the lead in the first round by scoring two points with a roundhouse kick in 29 seconds, but he was pushed back 6-8 after allowing consecutive body attacks at the end. Korea requested a video review after attempting a head attack at the end, and the referee ruled that Seo Geon-woo’s foot did not touch his opponent’s head. He

also struggled in the second round. Seo Geon-woo allowed Churchill to attack his head repeatedly, and his defeat seemed certain, falling to 6-14.

However, Seo Geon-woo did not give up and counterattacked fiercely with various kicks, dramatically tying the score at 16-16. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by technical points, and Seo Geon-woo, who scored with a higher-scoring kick, won the second round. Seo

Geon-woo, who recovered, pressed his opponent with lighter movements in the third round. He continued to score two points with consecutive body attacks, running up to 10-0. After that, Seo Geon-woo successfully avoided Churchill’s attacks and won a big victory 14-1, securing a spot in the quarterfinals. The national taekwondo team is on a winning streak at this Paris Games. On the 7th, ‘first runner’ Park Tae-jun (Kyunghee University) won the gold medal in the men’s 58kg class, and on the 8th, Kim Yu-jin (Ulsan Metropolitan City Sports Council) also won the women’s 57kg class. He has already achieved his goal of winning one gold medal. Now it’s Seo Geon-woo’s turn. If Seo Geon-woo wins, he will win three or more gold medals for the first time since the 2008 Beijing Games, when he swept four gold medals. Seo Geon-woo is a pioneer in the men’s 80kg class. Korean taekwondo has not advanced to the main event in this weight class since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but Seo Geon-woo earned his spot at the Paris Games. He was an ‘unknown athlete’ until just two years ago, but after winning the Muju World Grand Prix Challenge in June 2022, he has achieved significant results in international competitions. At the Manchester Grand Prix Final in March, he became the first Korean Taekwondo athlete to win the men’s 80kg class. 안전놀이터