Vietnam taekwondo star claims gold at Asian championship

In the final of the 49 kg category, Tuyen defeated Uzbek fighter Madinabonu Mannopova, runner-up at Asian Games 2019. The intense match ended with a close win 25-24 for Tuyen.

Since Tuyen was seeded first in the tournament, she didn’t have to participate in the first game. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Tuyen beat opponents from Tajikistan and Taiwan to enter the final.

Last month, Tuyen also grabbed a Tokyo Olympic ticket for Vietnamese taekwondo.

The Asian Taekwondo Championships took place in Lebanon from June 16 to 18. A total of 337 athletes from 28 countries and territories in the region participated in the event.

Vietnam’s four-member team at the tournament included South Korean expert Kim Kil Tae and two other female athletes: Ho Thi Kim Ngan (53 kg) and Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet (57 kg).

Tuyet went on to collect a silver at the championships.

On Saturday, the taekwondo team will travel to Kazakhstan to continue training. Expert Kim and Tuyen will fly to Tokyo on July 19 to compete in the Olympics.

Previously, to prepare for Olympic qualifiers and the Asian Taekwondo Championships, the national taekwondo team left for overseas training on April 14. For the past two months, the team have trained in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, before competing in Jordan and Lebanon.