Nurul Hidayah’s Asian Games Taekwondo Loss: What Happened?
Coach Jin Jun Beom believes that Nurul Hidayah Karim was unfairly penalised in the women’s poomsae quarter-final at the Asian Games.
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Taekwondo exponent Nurul Hidayah Karim was devastated following Sunday’s women’s poomsae quarter-final loss to Iran’s Marjan Salahshouri at the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Nurul Hidayah and Marjan were awarded an identical score of 7.780 points at the end of the two-round bout, however Marjan was crowned the victor after receiving 0.3 points from the judges for her performance.
Nurul Hidayah Karim’s Coach Believes She Was Robbed of Medal in Asian Games Hangzhou
Nurul Hidayah’s national coach, Jin Jun Beom, wanted to file a protest, but the organisers insisted that there would be no changes to the result.
“Nurul Hidayah should have won the bout. Her performance was perfect and did not make mistakes, especially in the second fight of the bout. The Iranian athlete made mistakes.
“I wanted to file a protest. However, the result would not have changed. It is very disappointing after all the hard work in training for the Asian Games,” said Jun Beom yesterday.
The Bintulu-born Nurul Hidayah was in tears by the loss.
“It has happened many times to me before. However, I did my best this time, and there were no mistakes during the bout,” she said.
Nurul Hidayah’s loss was a major setback for Malaysia, which had hoped to win its first medal at the Asian Games on Sunday. However, her performance was inspiring, and she showed that she is one of the best poomsae exponents in Asia.
Jason Loo also fell short of reaching the semi-finals, scoring 7.770 points to Taiwan’s Ma Yun-zhong’s 7.950 points.
This marked the end of Malaysia’s taekwondo campaign at the Asian Games, as none of the exponents made it past the qualifiers for the Kyorugi event.
The team will now focus on making an impact at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the Asian Championships, and the World Championships next year.
My Opinion
It is difficult to say definitively whether or not Nurul Hidayah was robbed of a medal on Sunday. The judges’ decision was close, and it is possible that Marjan deserved to win.
However, it is also possible that Nurul Hidayah was unfairly penalised.
One thing is clear: Nurul Hidayah is a very talented poomsae exponent.
She is currently studying in University Malaya (UM) and has become an inspiration for young athletes in the club.
It is also worth noting that Nurul Hidayah’s coach, Jin Jun Beom, is a respected figure in the taekwondo world. He is renowned for his fair and sincere approach to the sport and has mentored numerous accomplished players.
His comments about Nurul Hidayah’s performance are significant, and they suggest that he believes that she was unfairly penalised
Overall, it is difficult to say definitively whether or not Nurul Hidayah was robbed of a medal on Sunday. However, her performance nothing short of inspiring as she has won numerous medals at the international level, and she is one of the best athletes in Asia.
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