Thailand taekwondo star Panipak “Tennis” Wongpattanakit, - Image from The Nation Thailand/ANN
TAEKWONDO star Panipak “Tennis” Wongpattanakit, Thailand's sporting queen, is a triple big-time winner now.
She struck gold at the Tokyo Olympics and has done the double feat with a superb victory at the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games. For the record, she also won the gold medal at the Asian in 2018.
But to follow up the Tokyo Olympics victory and with the one in Hangzhou, is certainly a double peat to remember.
Nickname 'Tennis' because of her parents' love for sports, she may not know how to wield a racquet, but she sure has proven at the world stage in taekwondo. Incidentally, her brother and sister was nicknamed 'baseball' and 'bowling respectively.
In Hangzhou, Panipak defeated her Chinese opponent in a controversy-packed final to hand Thailand its first gold medal of the Asiad on Monday.
The top-seeded Thai overcame a 6-0 deficit in the deciding round to beat seventh-ranked Guo Qing in the women's 49kg.
The 26-year-old from Surat Thani powered into the lead with a 7-1 win in the first round, but Guo levelled the match by edging the second 2-1.
Controversy erupted in the final round after the Chinese fighter took a 6-0 lead and then the score suddenly surged to 23-0. Thailand's head coach, Choi Young-seok protested to the judges and after roughly 15 minutes of review, the score was restored to 6-0. The referee explained the surge had been due to a technical problem.
But with only a minute and six seconds left in the bout, Panipak still needed a miracle to take the gold. She found one in the form of four consecutive head kicks that catapulted her into a 12-6 lead. Guo managed to claw back another three points before Panipak clinched the decider 12-9.
The victorious Thai said she fought fiercely to the end but this would be her last Asian Games. After the Paris Olympics, she intends to take a long break from the sports before deciding whether she should retire and move into coaching.
“It felt like a movie in which I am the leading actress,” the 26-year-old Panipak said with a laugh in an interview on Tuesday after defeating Qing Guo, the Chinese athlete, in 2-1 sets, 7-6, 1-2, 12-9. She secured the gold medal in the women’s taekwondo category up to 49 kg.
“I never expected to win after the score was 23-0,” she said.
“I was shocked ... I have never seen anything like this,” she commented about the scoreboard surge.
“I reminded myself that there was still a minute to go and that in the past, with just seconds to go, I had notched up as many as 10 points. So I convinced myself that I still had time to make the most of it. I decided that I don’t give a damn if I lose,” she said with a beaming smile.
"But I won, and I won't forget this one for a while."
Panipak has been training taekwondo since she was 9 years old. She called this competition a perfect ending to the Asian Games and expressed her pride in bringing gold to Thailand.
She thanked the spectators for their tireless encouragement and everyone who supported her. The Paris Olympics in nine months' time is expected to be her last major tournament.
This championship victory is Panipak’s 49th title and her fourth this year, following the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia, the 2023 World Grand Prix in Rome, Italy, and the 31st World College Games in Chengdu, China.
