From The Star
NAYPYITAW: Stage fright put paid to SEA Games debutant Jenny Fong’s hopes of qualifying for the taekwondo women’s Under-67kg final bout at the Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium here.
Malaysia’s taekwondo exponent Jenny Fong receiving a kick in the face from Thanh Hien Nguyen of Vietnam. Jenny lost the bout to win the bronze in the Under-67kg event.
The 20-year-old from Sibu, Sarawak, had to be contented with a bronze medal after failing to use her left leg to kick during her semi-final bout against Vietnam’s Thanh Hien Nguyen.
Jenny, who received a bye straight into the semi-finals, chose to adopt a counter-attacking strategy for her bout against the Vietnam exponent on Thursday.
But the strategy failed as kicks using only her right leg were easily anticipated and blocked by her opponent.
Despite trailing 0-6 heading into the third and final round, cries from her corner to go into attack mode failed to rouse Jenny into action.
Instead, she waited for Thanh to make the first move, with the Vietnam exponent happy to protect her lead by running down the clock.
“I am unhappy with Jenny’s performance because she could have put on a better performance to fight for a final berth. She froze and failed to charge at her opponent even when she was trailing,” said the disappointed national coach Moi Chee Keong.
Read the full recap from the Star.
