Paralympic taekwondo fighter Assaf Yasur won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday.
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Yasur, 19, competed in the under-58 kilogram category and defeated his Turkish opponent – 2019 bronze medalist Ali Can Ozcan – in the championship final by a score of 42:57, winning his first international medal.
On his way to victory, Yasur overcame opponents from India with a whopping score of 2:32, Guatemala (0:30) Mongolia (10:16), and Russia (4:13).
Yasur lost both hands at the age of 13 in an electrocution accident. Upon recovery, he began to train in Para Taekwondo. He has now set his sight on the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
"I am the happiest person for the way I performed, for the medal and for this crazy day," Yasur said shortly after his victory.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid congratulated Yasur on Twitter saying he was "not just a source of huge national pride for our country, but he is also a reminder that willpower can take you to the highest peaks."
Culture and Sports Minister Hili Tropper also congratualted the champion.
"Five months ago I met Yasur and I knew that he would go on to win a medal. It was not a wild guess, simply because everyone who meets this wonderful young man understands that for him, the sky is the limit. He lost both hands a few days before his bar mitzvah, but did not lose his willpower or ambition for even a moment," he said.
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