WUXI, China (Dec 16, 2023) - A spectacular first day of world-class Taekwondo at the Wuxi 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series 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 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.

 

In the M+80kg final AIN Larin faced AIN Rafail Aiukaev. Larin maintain his perfect record from the quarter-finals onward of not losing a round and beat Aiukaev 2:0 in the final. Ivan Sapina beat Yaoxi Wang 2:1 to secure bronze.