JEDDAH – Saudi Taekwondo team player Donia Abu Taleb won the first-ever bronze medal in the 53kg category at the 25th edition of the Asian Taekwondo Championships, which kicked off Saturday in Chuncheon, South Korea.

Donia defeated the Tajikistan team player in the round of 16 and defeating Singaporean player in the quarterfinals, before losing in the round of four to the Uzbekistani player, who is ranked the first in the continent.

The Saudi player showed strong and remarkable performance, which inspires optimism that she will go further in the future.

Champion Fahd Al Samih achieved third place and won the bronze medal in the 54 weight category after qualifying for the round of 16, and beat the Japanese player in the quarterfinals, and despite his outstanding performance, he lost in the semifinals to the former world champion, the Korean player.

Meanwhile, Ali Al-Madli of the Saudi team achieved third place and won a bronze medal in the Pomsi competitions for the under 50 individual categories on the opening day of the 7th Asian Pomsi Championship.

Saudi team players Mohammed Abbas and Jaafar Mostafa were prevented from participating due to their infection with coronavirus, despite their presence with the Saudi mission in Korea.

The head of the Saudi team’s delegation and head of the Saudi Taekwondo Federation, Brig. Gen. Shaddad Al-Omari, congratulated the Saudi leadership on this achievement.

He stressed the Saudi Taekwondo players could have achieved higher and more medals, but the circumstances that accompanied their participation after some were exposed to the coronavirus led to missing this opportunity, while praising the team’s winning of the first medal at the Asian level in the women’s category.