CHUNCHEON, Korea (Oct. 5, 2024) - 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.