Zarrinkamar Roudbari (Photo World Taekwondo)
Hana Zarrinkamar Roudbari and Benyamin Soltanian helped Iran to win two gold medals on day three of the Tashkent World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
The day also saw the Uzbek capital also featured victories for Thailand’s Kanbusakorn Pichaisongkram and Korea’s Lee Geun-mi.
Women’s +68kg
Zarrinkamar Roudbari impressed throughout the day at the Martial Arts Sports Complex in Tashkent’s Olympic City, and sealed Iran’s second gold medal of the World Taekwondo Junior Championships with victory in the final against Czechia’s Alice Bínová.
That followed on from Zarrinkamar Roudbari’s triumph in the -68kg weight category at the Chuncheon 2024 World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
She clinched the first round against Bínová by points gap in swift fashion, and dominated the second round to win 11-3.
Croatia’s Sara Žižić and Chinese Taipei’s Zhang Ziyun took the bronze medals.
Men’s -73kg
Iran’s second gold medal of the day and third of the championships came courtesy of Soltanian, who did not lose a round on his route to victory.
Soltanian delivered a controlled display in the final against Korea’s Ahn Seung-Min, winning the two rounds 4-1 and 7-3.
Ukraine’s Roman Hodyma and Türkiye’s Ercan Berk İmamoğlu were bronze medallists.
Men’s -45kg
Pichaisongkram produced a masterful display in the Men’s -45kg final against Russia’s Tamerlan Kamalov to earn his country’s first gold.
Two intense rounds both went the way of Pichaisongkram as he staved off his opponent superbly. He took the first 2-1 after conceding a late Gam-jeom and the second 2-0 to complete his victory without losing a round.
Pichaisongkram overcame home favourite Shokhjakhon Kholmuratov of Uzbekistan in the semi-finals, while the podium was completed by Utku Kap of Türkiye, who lost out to Kamalov on the other side of the draw.
Women’s -42kg
An intriguing final went the way of Geun-mi, the reigning world cadet champion at -37kg, although she was pushed all the way by Greece’s Paraskevi Kalogirou in a closely fought encounter.
An early Gam-jeom conceded by Kalogirou was enough for Geun-mi to take the first round 1-0, and she looked on course to win a scoreless second round until her opponent produced a brilliant body kick in the final seconds and prevailed 3-1 to force a decider.
Geun-mi edged the scoreless third round to add Korea’s second gold medal of the World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
Bronze medals went to Iran’s Bahar Tahmasebi and Poland’s Lena Kaszkowiak.
Day four of the Tashkent 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships will feature events in the M -59kg and -78kg, and the W -44kg and -68kg.
