PARIS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand successfully defended her taekwondo women's 49kg gold medal on Wednesday at the Paris Olympics, while South Korea's Park Tae-joon clinched gold in the men's 58kg category.
Wongpattanakit, who celebrates her 27th birthday on Thursday, secured her second consecutive Olympic gold. This marks her third Olympic appearance, having previously taken bronze at Rio 2016 and gold at Tokyo 2020. The two-time world champion confirmed this would be her final Olympics due to injuries.
On her path to victory, Wongpattanakit defeated Morocco's Oumaima El Bouchti, Saudi Arabia's Dunya Ali M Abutaleb, and Croatia's Lena Stojkovic. In the final, she overcame China's Olympic debutant Guo Qing 6-3, 2-3, 6-2.
Guo secured silver, while Iran's Mobina Nematzadeh and Stojkovic shared bronze medals.
Park Tae-joon, 20, reigning world champion in the men's 54kg, defeated Venezuela's Yohandri Granado, France's Cyrian Ravet, and Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi to reach the final.
In the gold medal match, Park faced Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov, who suffered a leg injury during the first set. Despite his efforts to continue, the Azerbaijani had to retire in the second set while Park was leading 13-1.
Ravet and Khalil Jendoubi jointly claimed bronze medals.
The taekwondo events are held from August 7 to 10, featuring the men's 68kg and women's 57kg competitions on Thursday.
