Olympics: Kim and Zhao take first taekwondo golds, Thailand's Panipak takes bronze

Kim So Hui of South Korea celebrates winning the gold medal for Women's 49kg Taekwondo. PHOTO: REUTERS
Zhao Shuai of China celebrates winning the Men's 58kg Taekwondo gold medal. PHOTO: REUTERS

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - Kim So-hui of South Korea and China's Zhao Shuai took the honours on the opening day of the Olympic taekwondo competition on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Kim So-hui, a double world champion, narrowly beat European champion Tijana Bogdanovic of Serbia 7-6 to win the women's under-49kg gold medal.

Zhao's men's under-58kg final was almost as close before he edged Thailand's Tawin Hanprab 6-4 to secure the title.

Patimat Abakarova of Azerbaijan earned a rare women's medal for her country by taking bronze after beating Yasmina Aziez of France 7-2.

Thailand finished the day with two medals as Panipak Wongpattanakit, a former world champion, outclassed Itzel Manjarrez of Mexico 15-3 to win inside the distance for the other bronze.

Korea, normally the dominant force in taekwondo, also ended the day with two medals after two-time world champion Kim Tae-hun denied Mexico a bronze, beating Carlos Navarro 7-5 in the men's under-58kg division.

Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic needed an extra period of sudden death to edge out Jesus Tortosa of Spain 6-5.

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