A spectacular first day of world-class Taekwondo on December 16 saw host nation China emerge with two gold medals and Türkiye and an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) come away with one each.
Elif sude Akgul won gold for Türkiye in the W-49kg, Yushuai Liang and Jie Song of China won gold in the M-68kg and W-67kg respectively, and AIN Vladislav Larin finished top in the M+80kg.
Akgul faced Mi-Reu Kang of South Korea in the final of the W-49kg. Kang went into the final having not lost a round all day after putting in a number of commanding performances. However, in the final the Korean tasted defeat for the first time, losing 2:0 to Akgul and leaving with the silver. Qing Guo from China won bronze as she beat AIN Irina Rogozina 2:0 in the third place match.
2022 World Champion Yushuai Liang added to his impressive medal tally as he beat Croatia’s 2023 World Champion Marko Golubic 2:1 in the final of the M-68kg. Neither fighter had dropped a round in the course of the day and the fight for gold was hotly contested. Chenming Xiao beat Matin Rezaei to secure the bronze.
Last year’s Grand Slam winner, Jie Song made it back-to-back gold medals as she overcame compatriot Mengyu Zhang who had to withdraw in the final of the W-67kg. Former World Champion Ruth Gbagbi of Cote D’Ivoire won bronze as she beat Spain’s Cecilia Castro Burgos.
The remaining four gold medals went to Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs), Azerbaijan and Iran on day two of the competitions.
AINs Tatiana Minina and Polina Khan won gold in the W-57kg and W+67kg respectively, Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov took gold in the M-58kg and Iran’s Mehran Barkhordari was victorious in the M-80kg.
China finished the Grand Slam with the highest medal tally of four medals (two silver and two bronze), South Korea and Iran finished second with one silver and one bronze, and one gold and one bronze respectively.
Tatiana Minina beat 2022 World Champion Zongshi Luo from China in the final of the W-57kg with a convincing 2:0 victory. Yu-jin Kim of Korea secured bronze as she beat AIN Margarita Blizniakova in the bronze medal match.
Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov beat current World Champion Jun-seo Bae of South Korea 2:0 in the final of the M-58kg to win gold. Kai Cheng of China won his first Grand Slam bronze as he beat Alireza Hosseinpour from Iran 2:0.
Magomedov, Yushuai, Barkhodari, Larin and Shunan also qualified for the Paris 2024 with their victories.
After the competition, the World Taekwondo officials, International Referees, team members and athletes gathered at the Wuxi Hualuxe Hotel to hold the 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Slam night of Champion Gala.
Source: Inside The Games