TEHRAN - Iran’s Abolfazl Zandi and Arian Salimi have won gold medals in the men’s -58 kg and +80 kg categories at the Paris Taekwondo Grand Prix.
In the -58 kg category, Mahdi Razmian beat Brazil’s Gabriel Ramos 2-0 in his opening bout, but then faced fellow Iranian Abolfazl Zandi in the second round and lost 2-0.
After a first-round bye and his win over Razmian, Zandi beat Nigeria’s Isaka in two rounds to reach the semifinals. He then defeated Spain’s Rodriguez to advance to the final, where he beat South Korea’s Park Tae-joon in two straight rounds, 7-4 and 11-6, to take gold.
In the +80 kg category, Olympic champion Arian Salimi, who won gold at the Asian Games just days ago, faced fellow Iranian Mohammad Hossein Yazdani in his opening bout and won in two straight rounds. Salimi then beat Uzbekistan’s Mavlonov 16-0 in both rounds, and advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 win over Belarus’s Pelonis.
In the semifinals, Salimi beat Egypt’s Seif Eissa in two rounds, 10-6 and 11-3, to reach the final. In the final against Britain’s Caden Cunningham, he lost the first round 14-9, but came back to win the next two rounds 13-6 and 11-7 to claim gold.