Taiwanese Olympic medalist Lo Chia-ling on Monday beat two other Olympic powerhouses to win the silver medal in the women’s under-57kg category at the Baku World Taekwondo Championships in Azerbaijan.
Lo, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, had a chance to surpass her silver medal showing at last year’s world championships in Mexico, but could not capitalize on her 10cm height advantage over 17-year-old Hungarian Luana Marton.
Marton, who previously defeated Lo for the gold medal at the Belgian Open in March, landed a kick on Lo for the first points before taking the opening round 2-1.
Photo courtesy of coach Liu Tsung-ta via CNA
The Hungarian then topped Lo 4-3 in the second round to clinch the gold medal in the best-of-three contest.
Lo’s coach, Liu Tsung-ta, praised Marton’s defense, but said that his fighter had more to give.
“Chia-ling’s performance was a bit messy. [She] did not respond after missing [kicks and punches],” Liu said.
Lo had to overcome major competitors just to reach the final, barely squeezing past Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon in the round of 16 with a 6-5 win in the third round.
She then swept two-time Olympic gold medalist Jade Jones of Wales in the quarter-finals (8-0, 2-1) before coming back from a round down to upend bronze Olympic medalist Hatice Kubra Ilgun of Turkey in the semi-finals (4-9, 11-10, 16-3).
Lo also defeated Ilgun in the semi-finals of last year’s world championships in a tight three-round bout before falling in the gold medal match to Luo Zongshi of China in two close rounds.
In the men’s under-68kg category, Taiwanese Chiu Yi-jui lost in the opening round to Xiao Chenming of China.
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