South Korea, China level at besieged taekwondo

China finished with four gold, all won by women, while South Korea stood with two each for men and women after the four-day event marred by the disqualification of Taiwan’s star fighter Yang Shu-chun.

South Korea took four silver medals, two more than China.

Thailand and Taiwan each added one title to end with two each, one short of Iran.

Liu Rui stunned South Korea’s Oh Jung-Ah with a daring three-point head kick in the final round to win by 4-3 in the women’s heavyweight over-73kg final.

Fellow Chinese Luo Wei, the Athens Olympic 67kg champion, edged Feruza Yergeshova of Kazakhastan 5-4 in the women’s under-73kg final.

In the men’s 58kg final, Wei Chen-yang beat Pen-Ek Karaket of Thailand by decision, avenging his defeat in the Asian championship final this year.

But Chutchawal Khawlaor lifted Thailand’s second taekwondo gold of these Games by beating South Korea’s 19-year-old Kim Seong-Ho 8-6 in the men’s 54kg final.

Asia’s taekwondo chiefs remained embattled as they refused to apologise for branding Yang Shu-chun a cheat after the Taiwan fighter was banished from the Asian Games for wearing super socks.

Protests in Taiwan have raged since medal hopeful Yang was disqualified Wednesday for trying to wear extra scoring sensors in her socks for a women’s 49kg match against a Vietnamese opponent.

The spat escalated when the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) website was attacked by hackers after it carried a statement which condemned the athlete for a “shocking act of deception” even though an official inquiry was pending.

Taiwan’s government demanded an apology for the disqualification, claiming it was unjust, but the ATU remained unmoved on Saturday.

“As the ATU, we have nothing to decide now,” said ATU president Lee Dai-Soon, who added that his organisation was still waiting for a formal report from the competition’s supervisory committee.

But he said about the overall situation: “I’m really sorry that such an unhappy incident has happened.”