Taiwan's Wang Chieh-ling bags gold in world taekwondo junior championships

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Wang Chieh-ling (王婕菱) won gold in the women's under-44 kilogram division at the Chuncheon 2024 World Taekwondo Junior Championships in South Korea on Friday.

In her world junior championships debut, Wang opened with a 2-1 (4-12, 22-10, 13-1) win over tournament favorite Parnian Saki from Iran in the round of 64, and then upset Kazakhstan's Sofiya Klimenko 2-0 (14-11, 20-17) in the next round.

After beating Chelsea Gomez of Australia in the round of 16, Wang continued her winning streak by outlasting Bulgarian Deya Peeva and Ruveyda nur Evin from Turkey in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

In her final bout, the young Taiwanese fought an outstanding match against Shin Su-in, beating the South Korean 2-0 in two rounds (6-0, 17-6).

Wang, who is of Indigenous Amis descent, is a freshman at Yunlin County's Yi-Feng Senior High School. She was also a bronze medalist in the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships held in Sarajevo last year.

Despite this tournament being Wang's first world junior championships, coach Chu Chien-an (朱建安) told CNA after the Chuncheon tournament that he encouraged Wang to have confidence.

When the competition draw was first announced, Chu said he focused on motivating her to face the challenge and fight every bout like it was a gold medal round.

According to Chu, of all the athletes he has ever coached, the best any of thm did was to win silver.

"To be able to win the gold medal this time was really incredible. It was like a dream," he said.

Meanwhile, Wang said the gold medal win meant a lot to her, and that her inspiration came from Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Lo Chia-ling (羅嘉翎), who made her Olympics debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021 when she won a bronze medal at the age of 19.

At the time, Wang said she hoped to also one day stand on the Olympic podium.

The 14th edition of the World Taekwondo Junior Championships is being held in South Korea and runs until Sunday.