Gu Shiau-shuang (L) strikes Moldir Zhangbyrbay during the karate women's kumite 50kg final at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Oct. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)
HANGZHOU, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Taipei's Gu Shiau-shuang beat Moldir Zhangbyrbay of Kazakhstan to grab the karate women's kumite 50kg gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games here on Sunday.
After having comfortably crushed Chanyanut Chippensuk of Thailand 11-3 in the quarterfinals and Shakhrizoda Ismatillaeva of Uzbekistan 8-2 in the semifinals, Gu was met with fierce attacks, falling behind 5-0 midway through the final, but she aggressively fought back to 5-5 in the end and won the contest by Hantei.
Gu Shiau-shuang (R) competes in the final. (Xinhua/Liu Xu)
"The 0-5 points down in the beginning was my fault, because I took a defensive way to handle the situation," Gu said afterwards.
"But my coach kept telling me that I still had time and I needed to fight back in a smarter and more patient manner. I followed his advice and finally made it."
Sara Bahmanyar of Iran and the UAE's Alajmi Hawraa jointly claimed bronze.
It was a family affair in the men's team kata, as Japanese brothers Ryuji and Kazumasa Moto, alongside Koji Arimoto, beat Macao, China in the gold medal contest.
"I feel happy to be able to perform with this team. Since we started this team, we have always done the same kata for the final. We have honed it to perfection," said Kazumasa Moto, who had also claimed gold in the individual kata on Thursday.
Iraq and Kuwait shared the bronze medals. ■