GOLD FOR YAOWAPA
Yaowapa Boorapolchai, left, on her way to victory over China’s Wu Jingyu.
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Thai proves just too good for Chinese rival
[TAEKWONDO]Thai star Yaowapa Boorapolchai won Thailand's third gold medal at the WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships yesterday after winning a thrilling women's finweight final against China's Wu Jingyu. Yaowapa was only Thai winner yesterday, with local teenagers Chatchawal Khaola-Or losing his quarter-final in the men's finweight division to Spaniard Muriel Vincente and Pak Wattanaporn losing his men's flyweight bout to Italian Diego Redina. Rising Thai star Nathaya Sangsasithorn also went out in sudden-death to Brigitte Yague of Spain in the women's flyweight semi-final. But Olympic heroine Yaowapa was the star of the show yesterday, with 2,000 noisy fans at the venue cheering her on. Her bout was a rematch of the Asian Championships final at the same venue, which she also won. This time the Thai won a close battle 7-5. Yaowapa, who won a silver medal at last year's World University Games and the Asian crown in April, landed two kicks to the face of her challenger in the opening round to open up a good lead, but was floored in the next round by a quick kick to the face. The referee gave her an eight count while she recovered. With the noisy crowd behind her, Yaowapa fought back and at the end of the bout the score was 8-5 in her favour. However, the Thai was docked one point after being given two warnings, making the final score 7-5. "This is my biggest win since the Asian Games in South Korea," she said. "The credit for my success today goes to my coach," the 22-year-old added. Yaowapa will receive a cash incentive of Bt1 million from the National Sports Development Fund. Nathaya, who also won a bronze medal, will receive an incentive of Bt200,000. Thailand won two gold and one bronze medal in the women's divisions and one gold, one silver and one bronze in the men's category. With only the best eight teams advancing to today's team event, Thailand's men's and women's teams both made it through.
Preechachan Wiriyanupappong The Nation
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