Indian taekwondo player Rupa Bayor won a silver medal in the U30 Poomsae event at the Asian Open Taekwondo Championships, organised by the Asian Taekwondo Union, in Tangerang, Indonesia. The event, started on October 15, came to an end of Saturday.
Chinmay Behera, on the other hand, won a bronze medal in the U40 men’s category as he lost in the semifinals. Cheng Ka Fu and Au Kei Yeung of Hong Kong won the gold and silver medals.
“I am glad to win the first medal in G2 for Odisha state. I have prepared for this event for the last one year. Last time, it was postponed in Vietnam. All top players from across Asia participated in the event. I tried my best and won a bronze medal,” Chinmay, ranked 108th in the world, told Read.
Rupa, who got a bye in the first and second rounds, defeated Shaman Avisha Nabila of Indonesia in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, she bested LoI Germaine Jia Min of Singapore. In the final, however, Rupa went down to Putri Rachmania of Indonesia to settle for the silver medal.
Rupa and Chinmay were the only Indian players competing in the event.
Rupa in fine form
Earlier this month, Rupa became the first Indian taekwondo player to break into the top ten of the World Poomsae Rankings. Rupa, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, is currently ranked 9th in the world rankings. Rupa rose three places with 82.92 points to acquire her current rankings.
World Poomsae Rankings is topped by Denmark’s Eva Sandersen with 337.30 points. Kaitlyn Marie Reclusado of the USA is placed in the second spot with 236.84 points. Jocel Lyn Ninobla is trailing them at third spot with 182.42 points.
Rupa has reaped the fruits of winning an unprecedented bronze medal in the 8th Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Danang, Vietnam in April.
Rupa is expected to go up further as she won her second title of the year. Her latest achievement showed his resilience and passion for playing the sport.
Rupa overcame the odds to triumph in the sport. Rupa's career in taekwondo has been marked by hardships, especially for someone who hails from an obscure village of Sippi in Daporijo circle of Upper Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh.
She, however, played the Poomsae with sheer passion to succeed. Poomsae is a non-combative form of Taekwondo in which the competitors perform a sequence of techniques linked together into a pattern of moves like the gymnastics routines to be evaluated by a panel of judges. This format is currently a non-Olympic category which features in the Asian Games.
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