Lee Dae-hoon wins silver in men's under-58㎏ taekwondo

LONDON -- Lee Dae-hoon won silver in the men's under-58-kilogram taekwondo competition Wednesday at the London Olympics.

Lee lost to Joel Gonzalez Bonilla of Spain 17-8 in the men's lightest weight division. This was the first day of taekwondo at this year's Olympics.

Lee, 20, came up just shy of completing taekwondo's equivalent of a grand slam. He holds a title from each of the following events: the World Championships, the Asian Games and the Asian Championships. All three titles have come within the past two years.

Lee had a bumpy road to the final Wednesday. He needed decisive, sudden death points to get past both Pen-Ek Karaket of Thailand in the round of 16 and then Tamer Bayoumi of Egypt in the quarters. In the semis, Lee squeezed past Alexey Denisenko of Russia 7-6.

Olympic taekwondo bouts are held over three periods, each two minutes long. If the score is tied after those six minutes, the fighters enter the sudden-death fourth period, where the first to score wins.

Lee won the 2011 world title in the under-63㎏ class but that division isn't part of the Olympics. It forced him to drop weight to prepare for the Olympics. And Lee won his first international event in the under-58㎏ division at the 2012 Asian Championships in Vietnam in May.

For the first time since taekwondo became an Olympic sport in 2000, electronic protective gear has been put to use here. Fighters wear vests and socks with electronic sensors that award points only for strikes of sufficient force.

Video replays are also being used here for the first time in Olympic taekwondo to ensure more transparent judging.

The point scale also has changed from the Beijing Games. In 2008, fighters earned one point for an attack to the body and two for a kick to the head. This year, they will get one point for a kick to the body, two points for a turning kick to the trunk, three points for a valid kick to the head and four points for a turning kick to the head.

Countries are permitted to send four athletes, two each in the men's and women's competitions, to Olympic taekwondo tournaments.

At the last Olympics, South Korea swept up four gold medals. Two of the champions, Cha Dong-min in men's over-80㎏ and Hwang Kyeong-seon
in women's under-67㎏, are in London this week for their title defense.

(Yonhap News)