HCM CITY — Martial artist Le Huynh Chau won a bronze medal in the men's 58kg event on Tuesday at the ongoing Asian Taekwondo Championships in HCM City.

Chau, who secured a berth to London Olympics earlier this summer, defeated Mamayev Nursultan from Kazakhstan 2-1 to progress out of the first round.

In doing so, Chau reversed the result of their last meeting at the Asian zone Olympic qualifiers last year in Thailand, when the Kazakh defeated him 10-4.

He then achieved a surprise quarter-final victory over 2010 Asian Games champion Chen Yang Wei from Chinese Taipei.

Although he tried his best in his match against 2011 world champion Lee Dae-hoon from South Korea, Chau eventually lost 0-5 in the semi-finals and accepted the bronze medal.

"The most important thing is that I have one more chance to gain experience in competition and get acquainted with the Daedo body armour. After three matches, I realise that wearing Daedo helps me earn points easily when attacking competitors' bellies," Chau said. "The tournament is a good training ground for the Games."

In the women's 49kg event, Doan Thi Huong Giang beat Park Ji-hea from South Korea in extra time to reach the finals, where she was defeated 1-3 by Shu Chu Yang from Taipei to earn the silver medal.

Nguyen Huu Nhan in the men's 54kg and Truong Thi Nho in the women's 53kg failed to pass the qualifying round. — VNS