Gold for Uzbekistan (Photo World Taekwondo)
Uzbekistan rounded off their home World Taekwondo Junior Championships in perfect style, as Mohidil Uktamjonova in the women’s -63kg and Asadbek Samandarov in the men’s -51kg won gold medals on the final day.
Their successes added to Yosinbek Odilov’s triumph in the men’s -48kg on Monday, meaning the host nation finished with three golds.
The final gold medal of the World Taekwondo Junior Championships went to China’s Zhao Siyi in the women’s -52kg.
Uktamjonova starts wild celebrations
There were wild celebrations at the Martial Arts Sports Complex after Uktamjonova completed a turnaround in the women’s -63kg final against Italy’s Sofia Frassica.
The scoreless first round went the way of Frassica, but Uktamjonova hit back in the second to take it 5-1.
A hard-fought deciding round followed and it was Uktamjonova who, roared on by the home crowd, prevailed 3-1 to win the host nation’s second gold medal of the championships.
It was the third time in the day Uktamjonova had recovered from losing the first round to win, having also done so in the round of 16 against Belarus’ Anastasiya Kurylionak and the quarter-finals against Iran’s Aynaz Mikaeili.
Croatia’s Lorena Opačak and Belgium’s Noa Beckers earned bronze medals.
Clean slate for Samandarov
Uzbekistan’s memorable final day was completed by Samandarov, who triumphed over Tunisia’s Malek Mokrani in the men’s -51kg final for their second gold of the day and their third from the World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
Samandarov’s victory came without losing a round throughout the day, and he did not concede a point to Mokrani in the final, taking the first round 3-0 and the second 5-0 with a brilliant head kick to cap it off.
Bronze medals went to Thailand’s Tanaphat Nithitbow and Kazakhstan’s Adilet Sheri.
Siyi take the final gold
Siyi clinched the final gold medal of the Championships with an impressive victory over Serbia’s Jana Djuranovic for China’s third triumph in Tashkent.
A closely-contested first round was edged 2-1 by Siyi, before she pressed home her advantage in the second and took it 8-4 to celebrate gold.
Croatia’s Lucija Kalic and Spain’s Itziar Garcia Godoy completed the podium.
