An Hyang-sik and Kwak Min-ju won bronze medals in Taekwondo sparring yesterday, and Japan's Ruka Okamoto won bronze in the women's -49kg class; she is an athlete who has practiced Taekwondo since chil

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South Korea's An Hyang-sik competes against Thailand's Sirawi Mahamad in the men's -58kg sparring round of 16 at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at Toyohashi Gymnasium, Japan, on the 2nd. 2026.10.2 ⓒ News1 Reporter Kim Do-woo
An Hyang-sik, who won a bronze medal in the -58kg class.

Photo by Yonhap News. - Kwak Min-ju, who won a bronze medal in the -67kg class.
While searching for the Asian Games Taekwondo medal status, I heard that Japan's Ruka Okamoto (20) won a bronze medal in the women's 49kg class yesterday. I searched on YouTube, and while there were no videos of this Asian Games match, I found a training video uploaded in July this year. It turns out Ruka Okamoto has been practicing Taekwondo since she was a child.
Japan's first Taekwondo Olympic medalist, Yoriko Omamoto (55), is a case of someone who switched from Karate to Taekwondo. When Yoriko Omamoto was a junior at Waseda University and studying abroad at the University of Oregon in the USA in 1992, she wanted to continue her Karate training in America. She looked for a Karate dojo in her preferred style, but since she couldn't find a suitable one, she started attending a nearby Taekwondo dojo, which became her entry into Taekwondo. She then switched to Taekwondo as her main sport and won a bronze medal in the women's -67kg sparring event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Photo of the 2000 Sydney Olympics women's Taekwondo -67kg sparring medal ceremony. From left: Trude Gundersen (Norway) who won silver, Lee Sun-hee (South Korea) who won gold, and Yoriko Omamoto (Japan) who won bronze.

【From Saga Prefecture to the top of Asia】 Taekwondo's Ruka Okamoto (20), the secret to her strength... An unexpected background!? The family bond that supports her (2026.7. 14)
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Below are captured screenshots from the YouTube video above.
This seems to be a photo of Ruka Okamoto at age 3; the people in the photo appear to be her mother and older brothers.

Ruka Okamoto at the dojo (left).

A reporter stepping in to catch Ruka Okamoto's back kick (spinning side kick) with a mitt.


The fallen reporter. The back kick (spinning side kick) is the most powerful kick among Taekwondo kicks.

Ruka Okamoto training with a male athlete at the dojo.

The day before yesterday, in the Poomsae events, Yun Gyu-seong and Jeong Ha-eun won together, taking two gold medals, while Japan's Yuiko Niwa won a bronze medal in the women's Poomsae event. I will post a separate entry later regarding Yun Gyu-seong, Jeong Ha-eun, and Taekwondo Freestyle Poomsae.
The video below is Yuiko Niwa's quarterfinal match in the women's Poomsae at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Yuiko Niwa won a silver medal in the women's Poomsae event at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. During the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, the quarterfinals were judged on official Poomsae, and Freestyle Poomsae was included starting from the semifinals.
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Today's Asian Games Taekwondo schedule
9:12 AM: Women's sparring -57kg round of 16, featuring Kim Yu-jin
9:48 AM: Men's sparring -68kg round of 16, featuring Moon Jin-ho
10:12 AM: Women's sparring +67kg round of 16, featuring Song Da-bin
12:04 PM: Men's sparring +80kg quarterfinals, featuring Kang Sang-hyeon