India’s Taekwondo challenge in the Asian Games lasted barely 24 hours as Shivansh Tyagi and Margette Maria bowed out in the round of 16 of their respective events in Hangzhou, China, on Wednesday.
Tyagi and Maria reached Hangzhou with less than 24 hours to go for their bouts at the Asian Games. They were the only two Indian representatives in taekwondo at the Asian Games.
Competing in the Olympic weight division of men’s 80kg, Shivansh Tyagi started his campaign with a 2-0 win over VA Mithona of Cambodia in the round of 32. Athletes who win two rounds in a taekwondo bout win the contest.
In the first round of the bout, the Indian taekwondo in was trailing by three points with 10 seconds to go but mounted a comeback with a kick to level the scores at 3-3. Each round in taekwondo consists of two minutes.
The scores were level at 5-5 in the second round but the Indian delivered another three-point kick to the head to win the bout 8-5 and move into the pre-quarter-finals. There Tyagi lost 15-1 over two rounds to Korea’s Woohyeok Park and was eliminated.
Margette Maria competed in the Olympic weight division of women’s 67kg which began from the round of 16. However, she could not cross the first hurdle and crashed out after losing to Jui En Chang of Chinese Taipei 13-3 over two rounds.
Surendra Bhandari’s bronze medal at Busan 2002 remains India’s only medal in taekwondo at the Asian Games.
