[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]On the first day of the Olympic taekwondo competition, gold medals went to South Korea and China, silvers to Serbia and Thailand, and bronzes to Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Thailand and Korea.

In the women -49kg category, Sohui Kim of South Korea won gold and Tijana Bogdanovic of Serbia won silver, while Patimat Abakarova of Azerbaijan and Thailand’s Panipak Wongpattanakit took home bronzes. In the men -58kg category, Shuai Zhang of China won gold and Tawin Hanbat of Thailand won silver, while Luisito Pie of Dominican Republic and South Korea’s Taehun Kim won bronzes.

With taekwondo’s two lightest weight categories being contested, top stars fell one by one. Pundits around the arena were left stunned as some of the sport’s most famed athletes lost in the first and second rounds.

The crowd in the Carioca Arena 3 in Rio’s Barra Olympic Park generated an electric atmosphere throughout the day. The most prominent guest was IOC President Thomas Bach, who visited for the finals and was introduced to star Chinese athlete Jingyu Wu.

Women -49kg Category Seventh-seeded Sohui Kim of South Korea faced off against eight seeded Tijana Bogdanovi of Serbia for the gold. Earlier in the day, the Serbian had stunned the taekwondo world by comprehensively defeating arguably the most dominant fighter in taekwondo, China’sdouble Olympic gold medalist Wu. 17-7. Wu had been gunning for what would have been a record third Olympic taekwondo gold.

As the final got underway, the Serbian with her height advantage forced Kim to dance around