The medals were shared on an exciting fourth day of the Tashkent 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships, with four countries winning their first gold medals in Tashkent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mexico\u2019s Guillermo Manuel Cortes Labastida began the finals with a sublime performance in the men’s -59kg weight category, and Kazakhstan\u2019s Aiym Serikbayeva bounced back from losing the first round to take women’s -44kg gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia\u2019s Bashir Adzhiev achieved the same feat in the men’s -78kg, before the day was capped off by gold for Croatia\u2019s Maja Srhoj in the women’s -68kg.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third title for Labastida <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two-time world cadet champion Cortes Labastida added the world junior title to his collection with an impressive victory against Korea\u2019s Ji Woong Ha in the men’s -59kg final.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n He produced a fine comeback in the first round to win it 11-7, and then dominated proceedings in the second round to triumph by points gap and seal Mexico\u2019s first gold medal in Serikbayeva first winner from Kazakhstan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Serikbayeva denied Mexico a golden double on day four in Tashkent by overcoming Darah Shirley Ponce N\u00fa\u00f1ez in an exhilarating women’s -44kg final.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The high-scoring first round went 21-12 the way of Ponce N\u00fa\u00f1ez, but Serikbayeva landed four head kicks without reply in the second to win by points gap and take the match to a decider.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ponce N\u00fa\u00f1ez led the third round going into the final 15 seconds, but Serikbayeva finished with a flourish and prevailed 12-7 to earn Kazakhstan\u2019s first gold in Tashkent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In doing so, Serikbayeva became Kazakhstan\u2019s first-ever female Taekwondo world champion at junior or senior level.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the semi-finals, Serikbayeva overcame 2023 world cadet champion Petra Uglesic of Croatia, while on the other side of the draw Ponce N\u00fa\u00f1ez defeated France\u2019s Layna Bedouel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adzhiev recovers from first round loss<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another 2023 world cadet champion added gold at the World Taekwondo Junior Championships in the men’s -78kg, as Adzhiev recovered from losing the first round to win the final against the USA\u2019s Joshua Alade.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alade, a World Taekwondo Cadet Championships bronze medallist three years ago, took the first round 4-3 to lead the final.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Adzhiev hit back and won the second round 11-9, before clinching the deciding third by points gap for Russia\u2019s first gold medal in Tashkent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese Taipei\u2019s Ren You Yang and Korea\u2019s Jun Won Jang earned bronze medals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Srhoj<\/strong> stays flawless<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Croatia\u2019s first gold in Tashkent came courtesy of Maja Srhoj, who triumphed without losing a round in the women’s -68kg weight category.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Srhoj won the first round of the final against Serbia\u2019s Ema Ze\u0107irovi\u0107 3-1, then controlled the second to take it 12-3 and seal victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain\u2019s Paula Mora Dominguez and Russia\u2019s Milana Abdulgalimova took bronze medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Day five of the Tashkent 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships will feature competition in the M -63kg and -68kg events, as well as the W -49kg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The medals were shared on an exciting fourth day of the Tashkent 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships, with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[143],"class_list":["post-11721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-taekwondo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Tashkent. Canada\u2019s Zineddine Chebli and Tunisia\u2019s Adam Hasnaoui took the bronze medals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n