Taiwan prodigy wins gold at Asian Taekwondo Championships debut

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) Taiwan's Wang Chieh-ling (王婕菱) on Thursday won gold in the women's 46-kilogram finweight category in her debut at the Asian Taekwondo Championships, beating Thailand's Patcharakan Poolkerd 4-2, 6-3 in the final held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Wang, 17, first defeated her fellow countrywoman Huang Ying-hsuan (黃映瑄) before taking down Lee Yu-min from South Korea to face Patcharakan in the women's finweight final.

Wang's medal marked the first time in a decade Taiwan has won a gold medal at the Asian Taekwondo Championships, following Lin Yi-ching's (林宜青) women's 62-kg lightweight gold and Chuang Chia-chia's (莊佳佳) women's 67-kg welterweight gold in 2016.

Speaking with CNA after the match, Wang's coach Chu Jian-an (朱建安) said he was deeply moved when it was confirmed the taekwondo wunderkind had secured the gold.

Chu said Wang only started to compete with adults this season, which means she was "punching above her weight" at the Asian Taekwondo Championships.

As the results at the championships were also crucial to secure qualification points for the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Wang was under immense pressure going into the event.

To ease her nerves, Chu said he encouraged her to get on the mat and enjoy the competition.

Prior to her gold medal, Wang also won gold in the women's 46-kg category in her Dutch Open debut, defeating Wang Shiyi (王詩怡) of China 5-0, 17-1 in the final at Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in March.