'New Taekwondo V' Park Tae-joon (20-Kyung Hee University) made it to the final in his first Olympic Games. He secured his first silver medal in taekwondo.

The world No. 5 defeated world No. 1 Mohamed Karyl Zendoubi (Tunisia) 2-0 (6-2 13-6) in the semifinals of the men's 58-kilogram taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday (June 7) at the Grand Palais in Paris, France. Zendoubi is a silver medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He defeated South Korean Jang Jun Jang (Korea Gas Corp.) in the semifinals. Zendubi was a strong favorite to win this tournament as well.

Park is now just one win away from gold. It has been 12 years since a South Korean athlete reached the final in this weight class since Lee Dae-hoon (retired) at the 2012 London Games. He is the spearhead of the Korean taekwondo program. This is the first day of the taekwondo competition at the Games. His final opponent is Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov (26th). He is a dark horse who defeated Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Vito Delaquilla (4th) in the semifinals. The match between Park and Magomedov will take place at 4:37 a.m. KST on Aug. 8.

This will be the first Olympics for Park, who was first selected for the national team in 2022 while still a student at Hansung High 온라인카지노사이트 School. He punched his ticket to Paris by beating world No. 3 Jang Jun in the Olympic trials in February. South Korea has yet to win a gold medal in this weight class. Lee Dae-hoon (retired), a taekwondo legend, won a silver medal at London 2012. He was followed by Kim Tae-hoon and Jang Jun at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games, respectively.

Earlier in the day, Park defeated 29th-ranked Johandri Granado of Venezuela 2-0 (12-0 12-0) in straight sets in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Park defeated 11th-ranked Sirien Labet of host country France 2-1 (8-5 3-4 5-4) in a close match. Park suffered an injury early in the second round when his right foot collided with his opponent's knee during a kick. "My right foot is fine," Park said after the match. Despite playing in his first Olympic match, Park was all smiles and relaxed throughout.

"I struggled a little bit in the quarterfinals because there were some changes," Park said, "and I think I should have been more aggressive in the first round of the semifinals. That was a little disappointing, but other than that, it's still going well (as per strategy)," Park said. "I knew that I was at a disadvantage if he and I were hitting each other from a long distance, so I tried to stay aggressive and try to get him close," he explained. "I'm honored to be in the final after such a long time, and I'll give it my all in the final and try to win the gold medal," Park said.