LIAQUAT MUMTAZ:
On the penultimate day of the World Taekwondo Junior
Championships, Hana Zarrinkamar Roudbari and Ghazal Houshmand became the latest Iranian gold
medallists, and there were triumphs for Croatia’s Oscar Kovačić and Korea’s Jaewon Park.
Zarrinkamar Roudbari and Houshmand both won the second rounds of their respective finals by
technical superiority to seal their victories – the former overcame Korea’s Lim Yerim in the women’s
-68kg category and the latter defeated China’s Xiruo Yang in the women’s -42kg.
In the men’s -78kg, Kovačić came out on top in an entertaining final against Poland’s Michał
Szadkowski, while in the men’s -73kg Park came from behind to beat Aliakbar Ebrahimi and prevent
an Iranian treble on day five.
Men’s -78kg
Szadkowski made a promising start in the final which saw him lead 2-0 and 4-3, but Kovačić grew
into the first round and made the pressure on his opponent count by taking it 13-4. In the second
round, Szadkowski pushed Kovačić all the way and forced his opponent to concede four Gam-Jeom.
However, the powerful kicking from the Croatian athlete proved decisive, helping him to triumph 10-
8 and win gold.
Kovačić won bronze at the 2022 World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, but his
gold in Chuncheon was well deserved having displayed great quality and resilience throughout the
day. In his semi-final against Iran’s Amin Mohammad Ahmadvand, Kovačić suffered a first-round
defeat by technical superiority, but a superb response allowed him to inflict the same fate on his
opponent in the following two rounds to seal his place in the final. In the corresponding semi-final,
Szadkowski was dominant against Spain’s Jesus Pacheco Jimenez.
Ahmadvand and Pacheco Jimenez earned bronze medals in the men’s -78kg weight division.
Women’s -68kg
Zarrinkamar Roudbari started the final against Lim in fine fashion, 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.
Zarrinkamar Roudbari had a difficult route to the final, needing to come from one round behind
against Poland’s Julia Nowak in the semi-finals and requiring three rounds to overcome Croatia’s
Maja Srhoj in her round of 32 opener. Lim in contrast had not dropped a round before the final,
including a strong showing in her semi-final against Chinese Taipei’s Wei-chia Wang.
Men’s -73kg
The men’s -73kg final featured an excellent turnaround by Park against Ebrahimi. In a captivating
first round, Ebrahimi led for most of it, and hit back in the closing seconds to take it 14-11 after Park
had edged his way into a late lead.
However, the momentum swung Park’s way in the second round, when a superb performance was
capped off with a reverse turning kick to the head to seal a 13-3 win. Park was increasingly looking in
control of the contest, and completed the comeback with a 10-6 victory in the deciding third round.
Park had earlier prevailed in a closely fought semi-final against Italy’s Angelo Mangione. Azerbaijan’s
Huseyn Khudiyev joined Mangione in winning bronze after losing to Ebrahimi in the semi-finals.
Women’s -42kg
Iran’s second gold medal of the day came courtesy of Houshmand. A high-scoring first round went
17-9 in her favour, and she dominated 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.
Houshmand was equally impressive in the earlier stages of the competition, and did not drop a
round on her way to gold. That included a high-scoring victory against Individual Neutral Athlete
(AIN) Elina Tkhamokova in the semi-finals. On the other side of the draw, Yang prevailed in three
rounds against Uzbekistan’s Valeriya Khegay in the quarter-finals and India’s Saksham Yadav in the
semi-finals.
Bronze medals in the women’s -42kg went to Tkhamokova and Yadav.
The World Taekwondo Junior Championships concludes tomorrow with competition in the men’s –
59kg and -68kg, and the women’s-55kg.
