Panipak and Napaporn capture US Open golds
Tawin withdraws in second round of final due to injury to settle for silver
>> Thai taekwondo exponents Panipak Wongpattanakit and Napaporn Charanawat grabbed the gold medals at the 2017 US Open on Thursday.
Rio Olympic bronze medallist Panipak, competing at 53kg for the first time, overwhelmed Tijana Bogdanovic of Serbia 24-7 in the final. Madeline Folgmann of German, ranked first in the division, and Li Jia of China shared the third place.
Panipak took the bronze at last year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro where she competed in the women’s 49kg divison.
It was the third time for Panipak to win the title at the US Open. Earlier, she recorded success in the 46kg class in 2013 and in the 49kg category last year.
In the women’s 46kg, world junior champion Napaporn edged Brenda Costarica San Pedro of Mexico 16-13 to win the title.
Danielle Wassell of USA, who lost to the 17-year-old Napaporn in the semi-finals, and Alba Chaparro Perez of Spain took the bronze medals.
Tawin Hanprab, the 2016 Olympic Games silver medallist, settled for the men’s 58kg silver after being forced to withdraw due to an injury in the second round of his final bout against Jesus Tortosa of Spain.
Despite failing to win the gold, Tawin improved upon his result last year when he picked up the bronze.
Thailand coach Che Yong-Seok said both Panipak and Napaporn lived up to his expectations as they were the favourites to win in their respective classes.
The South Korean said Panipak had adapted quite well after moving up to 58kg class, but added that she would need more time to get used to the weight and her opponents in the division.
The coach added that Thailand could have won another gold medal if Tawin had not suffered a serious injury.
“He got injured in the quarterfinals otherwise he would have won the title easily.
“We have three more fighters in the tournament and hopefully we will win more gold medals.”
The three Thais remaining in the event are Pannapa Harnsujit (women’s 57kg), Ramnarong Sawekwihari (men’s 54kg) and Natthawi Khompong (men’s 63kg).