SEOUL: South Korea took the first two gold medals in the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships on Sunday with victories for both the men and women. In the men’s under-54kg category, Kim Tae-Hun, bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, defeated Armin Hadipour of Iran 10-6 to win a third successive world title. Sim Jae-Young added a second gold for the host nation in the women’s under 46 kg event. In the earlier semi-final, Kim strolled past Vito Dell’Aquila of Italy 16-0 while Hadipour defeated Thailand’s Ramnarong Sawekwiharee 25-23. Sim Jae-Young defeated Vietnam’s Truong Thi Kim Tuyen 18-9 to make it two out of two for Korea and secure her first-ever world title. Sim moved into the final by beating Andrea Ramirez of Colombia 19-6 while Truong overcame Thailand’s Napaporn Charanawat 9-8. But there was some bad news for the home crowd in the women’s under-49kg category that started on Sunday. 2016 Olympic champion Kim So-Hui was eliminated at the quarter-finals by China’s Wenren Yuntao 8-6. Wenren moves into the semi-final on Monday and takes on Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand. In the other tie, Serbia’s Vanja Stankovic meets Kristina Tomic of Croatia. The tournament, held every two years, runs until Friday in Muju, 240 kilometres (149 miles) south of Seoul. Published in Daily Times, June 26th, 2017.