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In Kyo-don of South Korea waves the national flag, Taegeukgi, to celebrate his bronze medal in the men's +80kg taekwondo event at the Tokyo Olympics at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday. (Yonhap) |
CHIBA -- In Kyo-don won the bronze medal in men's taekwondo on Tuesday, for only the second medal in its traditional martial art for South Korea at the Tokyo Olympics.
In defeated Ivan Konrad Trajkovic of Slovenia 5-4 in the bronze medal match of the men's +80kg event at Makuhari Messe Hall A in Chiba, east of Tokyo.
This is the second taekwondo medal for South Korea so far at the Tokyo Olympics. Jang Jun won bronze in the men's 58kg last Saturday.
In, 29, was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma seven years ago, but returned to competition soon after and captured silver medal at the Summer Universiade in 2015.
He won bronze at the 2017 world championships and came into the Tokyo Olympics ranked No. 2 in the world.
In won his first two matches before falling to Dejan Georgievski of Macedonia in the semifinals.
With a bronze medal up for grabs, In landed a kick to Trajkovic's head for a 3-0 lead with 28 seconds left in Round 1.
A "gam-jeom," or a penalty point, assessed to Trajkovic gave In a 4-0 lead. The Slovenian cut it to 4-2 and his late punch, plus a gam-jeom assessed to In, made it a 5-4 contest. But the South Korean held on for dear life over the last 11 seconds to secure his first Olympic medal. (Yonhap)
