Winning gold for the second year in a row after winning the 39-kilogram category last year, Yoon’s weight loss struggles paid off
Yoon Gun-ah won the Greco-Roman 42-kilogram category in the secondary school wrestling at the 52nd National Boys’ Sports Games. By Seo Kang-jun
“I am happy to have won another gold medal at the last Boys’ Games. I will continue to work hard to win national championships when I enter high school.”
This is what Yoon Gun-ah (Moon Won-joong, Seongnam안전놀이터) said after winning gold for the second consecutive year in the Greco-Roman 42-kilogram category in wrestling at the 52nd National Youth Sports Games.
Yoon won the gold medal for the second consecutive year in the Greco-Roman 42kg final at the Ulsan Exhibition and Convention Center on Sunday by technical fall after overpowering Yoo Dong-ho (Kangwon).
Earlier in the day, Yoon won a decision victory over Kim Geon (Jeonnam) in the quarterfinals to reach the final, where he pulled off a dramatic upset over Jang Han Byul (Chungcheongbuk-do).
“At the Asian Cadet Wrestling National Selection Tournament held just before the Boys’ Championships, I lost to the wrestler I met in the semifinals today,” said Yoon, who won his second consecutive title after winning the Greco-Roman 39kg category at the 51st edition last year. “I focused on practicing my takedown defense, which was lacking at the time, and trained hard to strengthen my physical strength, which showed in good results.”
She also had trouble controlling her weight as she grew taller and gained weight before the tournament. “I had to lose 5 kilograms,” says Yoon. “I had to lose 5 kilograms, and I did it by eating less and training steadily,” she said. “There were so many things I wanted to eat. I can’t wait to eat hamburgers with my dad,” she laughed.
Finally, Yoon Gun-ah said, “I will be entering Seohyeon High School in Seongnam. I want to continue to train hard in high school and win a gold medal at the National Championships.”