TEHRAN – Ghazal Houshmand extended Iran’s lead at the top of the World Taekwondo Junior Championships medal table in the World Taekwondo Junior Championships on Saturday.
A high-scoring first round went 17-9 in her favor in the women’s -42kg, and she dominated her Chinese rival Xiruo Yang in the second round to force her way into a 15-3 lead which gave her victory by technical superiority and crowned her junior world champion.
Bronze medals in the division went to Tkhamokova and Yadav.
In -68kg category, Hana Zarrinkamar claimed a gold medal at the event on Saturday.
Zarrinkamar started the final against Korea’s Lim Yerim in the women’s -68kg category, scoring six points from two head kicks awarded on video review.
She played out an 11-6 win to take the first round, and finished the final with a flourish in the second round as her power and force proved too much for Lim, resulting in a victory by technical superiority for the Iranian athlete.
Julia Nowak from Poland and Chinese Taipei’s Wei‐chia Wang won two bronze medals.
Mahdi Razmian won a gold medal after a brilliant performance against Agenjo Trigos of Spain.
In the men’s -48kg, Razmian delivered a dominant display against Spain’s Jairo Agenjo Trigos for Iran’s fifth gold of the Championships.
Razmian had required three rounds in three of his matches earlier in the day -against Thailand’s Sorachat Sawasri in the round of 64, Abdullah Essa A Almushraf of Saudi Arabia in the quarter-finals and Kazakhstan’s Temirzhan Taskyn in the semi-finals.
However, there were no signs of tiredness with his display in the final. He controlled the first round well and won it 6-1 to take the lead in the match. The Iranian athlete was 15cm taller than Agenjo Trigos, and in the second round he made full advantage of that, triumphing 12-2.
The 2024 World Taekwondo Junior Championships are being held in South Korea’s Chuncheon.