Yosinbek Odilov (Photo World Taekwondo)
Host nation Uzbekistan won their first gold medal of the Tashkent World Taekwondo Junior Championships through Yosinbek Odilov’s victory in the men’s -48kg event.
Odilov’s triumph was followed by gold medals for China’s Liu Zixuan in the women’s -55kg and Iran’s Mohammad Erfan Khodaei in the men’s -55kg categories.
Odilov faced a tough route to the -48kg final, requiring three rounds to overcome Tunisia’s Mohamed Yassine Nefzi in his first match.
In his semi-final against Jordan’s Abdullah Shaheen, he was routed 12-0 in the first round, but recovered superbly to win the following two rounds and progress.
In the final against Oman’s Dawood Fahad Al-Yusufi, Odilov produced a wonderful head kick to break the deadlock in the first round, and closed out a 5-1 victory. He was pushed hard by Al-Yusufi in the second round and trailed for much of it but, roared on by a passionate home crowd, he stayed in contention and produced a brilliant late body kick which turned it in his favour.
Odilov ultimately won the second round 11-9, prompting huge celebrations at the Martial Arts Sports Complex in Tashkent’s Olympic City. Shaheen and Yerassyl Yerzat of Kazakhstan earned bronze medals.
China is now the only country to win gold medals on both competition two days at the World Taekwondo Junior Championships, thanks to Zixuan’s success in the -55kg.
Both rounds of the final against Croatia’s Klara Uglešić finished level on points, but were edged by Zixuan.
The first was a scoreless round, while the second was a thrilling encounter which went to the final seconds and finished 9-9. Zixuan earlier had to recover from losing the first round to progress from her semi-final against Russia’s Aminat Ramazanova, while on the other side of the draw Uglešić won a low-scoring semi-final against Egypt’s Hala Hany Omar.
The final gold medal of day two went to Iran courtesy of Khodaei, who saw off the challenge of Poland’s Antoni Sokolowski in the -55kg final.
An impressive performance in the first round helped Khodaei to win it 7-3, and he edged the second which finished 7-7 to complete his run to gold without losing a round. Islam Medetbay of Kazakhstan and Abdurrahman Yılmaz Kılıç of Türkiye took the M -55kg bronze medals.
Day three of the Tashkent 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships will feature competition in the M -45kg and M -73kg events, as well as the W -42kg and W +68kg.
