The strange aspects of taekwondo at the SEA Games.

For the first time in SEA Games history, the taekwondo event won 6 gold medals, evenly distributed among 6 countries, instead of the host country and strong nations monopolizing them.

Watcharakul Limjitakorn celebrates Thailand's only gold medal in taekwondo poomsae - Photo: NK

The taekwondo competition at the 33rd SEA Games was held for only one day yesterday (December 10) at the Fashion Island Shopping Center (Bangkok), with six sets of medals being contested.

As a result, host nation Thailand only won one gold medal in the women's individual standard poomsae event. The remaining five gold medals were shared equally among the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The fact that host nation Thailand only won one gold medal in one event is unusual. Historically, in events with subjective scoring, the host country usually takes half of the gold medals.

Host nation Vietnam won 4 out of 5 gold medals at the 31st SEA Games. The Philippines won 4 out of 8 gold medals at the 30th SEA Games. Indonesia took 3 out of 5 gold medals at the 26th SEA Games. Malaysia took 2 out of 5 gold medals at the 29th SEA Games.

Even weak countries – those that have never won a world medal – will aim for at least one gold medal. For example, at the 2009 SEA Games, which included taekwondo for the first time, host nation Laos won one gold medal out of a total of five.

Singapore beat Vietnam in a contested final to win the gold medal - Photo: NK

The remaining four gold medals went to Vietnam (2 gold medals), the Philippines, and Myanmar. At that time, coach Nguyen Thanh Huy and his team had just won silver medals at the November and December World Championships before going to Laos to compete in the SEA Games.

So why is it that Thailand, a country with strong taekwondo capabilities and the host nation, only won one gold medal in the demonstration event at the 33rd SEA Games?

The answer is that the host nation Thailand played more fairly. They didn't need to win the gold medal at all costs. Because if they wanted to, Thailand could have easily won more gold medals from their three previous final defeats, including the loss to Vietnam in the team creative poomsae event.

The silver medal in the mixed doubles standard kata event was won in tears by the two athletes Nguyen Trong Phuc and Nguyen Thi Kim Ha because the referees were biased in their scoring in the final match against Singapore, not Thailand.

This year, the chief referee for taekwondo is from Singapore. And coincidentally, the controversial defeats of both Vietnamese and Philippine athletes came from matches against Singaporean athletes.

Several countries are expected to send letters of complaint to the Asian Taekwondo Federation.

According to a leader of the Vietnam Taekwondo Federation (VTF), Vietnam and several other countries will send a letter to the Asian Taekwondo Federation (ATU) after the 33rd SEA Games to report on the refereeing issues at the Games.

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NGUYEN KHOI

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/sea-games-ky-la-cua-mon-quyen-taekwondo-20251211105601682.htm