GOYANG, Korea (Nov. 16, 2023) – Team Brazil emerged victorious on the third and final day of the Seoul 2023 World Cup Team Championships Series, lifting the mixed gender trophy.
The action played out on a field of play at the KINTEX 2 Exhibition Center, in western Seoul’s suburb of Goyang.
On the days prior, female and male teams, respectively, had fought. Team Korea lifted the female title on Day 1, Team Iran won the male trophy on Day 2.
Mixed gender teams field two male and two female fighters. To help the audience distinguish the combatants - hidden behind head gear and trunk protector - men wear black pants, women white.
Though the teams are mixed, due to the substitution rules, actual fighting is purely female versus female and male versus male.
Nobody had predicted the two opponents that would face off in the final in Goyang: Brazil and Morocco. Neither team had placed in the last World Cup, held in Wuxi, China, in 2019.
It was good times for the Brazilians, who had won bronze in the male competition, one day earlier.
As the teams lined up opposite one another, it was visually clear that Team Morocco had a height/leg-length advantage. But as action got underway, Team Brazil looked livelier on the field of play – and were backed by some very, very vocal support in the stands.
Brazil took Round 1, and – under the best of three rounds system - looked determined to finish matters in Round 2. Applying offensive pressure from the very outset of the second round, they grabbed an early point lead.
It was a lead that Brazil increased and never relinquished. A desperate Morocco unleashed a furious, across-the-mats charge in the final 10 seconds, but to no avail. End result: Brazil 2, Morocco 0.
The Latin Americans, crowned 2023 World Cup champions, took home gold medals and $20,000 in prize money. The North Africans won silver and $10,000 – a repeat of their silver-medal performance in the female competition on Day 1.
Third place – and $5,000 - went to Iran, the victors in the male contest on Day 1. The Iranians today defeated Côte d’Ivoire in the bronze-medal match, 2-0.
Earlier, in the first semi-final, Brazil had come back from behind to beat Iran 2-1. In the second semi, Morocco defeated a game (but physically smaller) Côte d’Ivoire, 2-0
In the quarter finals, Morocco took out Mexico 2-0; Brazil dispatched Korea in a fiercely fought 2-1 victory; and Iran ejected 2019 champs China, 2-0.
Today’s action brought the 2023 World Cup to an end. Over three days, Goyang had hosted an eight-nation field: Australia, Brazil, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Iran, Korea, Mexico and Morocco.
