“Kritchayon” wins bronze medal at 2024 World Junior Taekwondo

Iron' Kritchaya and Paju, rising star kickers, saved the Thai taekwondo team's face by winning a bronze medal in the men's 68 kg category at the World Youth Taekwondo Championships in South Korea. 2024 World Junior Taekwondo Championships, 'Chuncheon 2024 World Taekwondo Junior Championships' held in Chuncheon, South Korea, yesterday was the last day with 3 gold medals up for grabs. Men's 68kg "Iron" Kritachai Prompat, the gold medalist of the Korea Open 2024, received a bye in the first round. He entered the field in the second round and defeated Nikola Golemak from Denmark 2-1 before defeating Gabriel Varenica from Croatia 2-0 in the last 16 round. He advanced to the quarterfinals to meet Victor Rodriguez from the United States. Whoever wins will immediately guarantee a bronze medal. In the first round, Kritachai lost 2-7 before turning around to win in the next 2 rounds, winning 2-1, advancing to the semifinals to meet Amir Vykov, an athlete from a neutral country. In this round, Iron, who was not in pe rfect physical condition, lost 0-2 in rounds 0-12, 2-14, winning the bronze medal. Amir Vykov advanced to the finals to meet Lee Jun-hyuk from South Korea and won the gold medal. After winning the bronze medal, 17-year-old Iron expressed his satisfaction with his performance, admitting that his opponent in the semi-finals was stronger and had better technique. He will take this medal back to his parents who have always supported him, and he will go back to training harder to achieve his goal of moving up to the public category. Men's 59 kg category "Bew" Thanaphum Fuengnoi, the gold medalist of Korea Open 2024, entered the field in the first round, defeating Muhammad Hadi Ejaz from Pakistan 2-0 in the second round, defeating Brandon Ramos from Puerto Rico 2-0 in the last 16, defeating Martin Simeonov from Bulgaria 2-0 in the last 8, advancing to the last 8 to meet Mahmoud Bassam Yousif from Jordan, the winner of which immediately guaranteed a bronze medal. It turned out that "Bew" lost narrowly 1-2 in the r ounds 3-2, 2-8, 3-4, unfortunately missing out on the bronze medal. In the 55 kg women's division, "Plai Fah" Anna Yukesom played in the first round against Jessica Lynn Lee from Haiti. It turned out that Plaifah tried to walk in to kick to score, but was kicked in the head and body by the Haitian athlete before losing 0-2 in the rounds 0-10, 1-5, and was eliminated in the first round. 'Coach Che' Chatchai Che, head coach of the Thai national taekwondo team, summed up the overall performance of this youth team, saying that they won 1 bronze medal. It is a pity that many did not reach the medal, but it is considered that there is improvement and better technique. He admitted that this year is difficult because athletes from other countries have improved a lot. From now on, they must take the weak points back and fix them, and train harder because next year there is the Asian Youth Championship waiting. Summary of the performance of 16 Thai kickers in the 2024 World Youth Taekwondo Championships, 1 bronze me dal was won by Krityachai Prompat in the men's 68 kg category, finishing in joint 25th place. The gold medal was won by a kicker from Iran, who won 7 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals. Source: Thai News Agency