Gold medals were shared across nine countries at the Roma 2026 World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix, with only Uzbekistan winning more than once in an impressive showcase of the sport\u2019s growing global strength at the Foro Italico.
Mexico\u2019s Claudia Romero clinched the first gold medal of the day, recovering from losing the first round to win the K44 Women’s -47kg final against Thailand\u2019s two-time Paralympic medallist Khwansuda Phuangkitcha.
Paris 2024 bronze medallist Sabir Zeynalov of Azerbaijan triumphed in the K44 Men’s -58kg, defeating Korea\u2019s Pyeong Gang Lee in two high-scoring rounds. Lee had beaten the Paralympic champion Asaf Yasur of Israel in the semi-finals.
In a repeat of the K44 Women’s -52kg final at last month\u2019s European Championships in Munich, Georgia\u2019s Ana Japaridze once again edged out T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s two-time Paralympic medallist Meryem Bet\u00fcl \u00c7avdar, winning the two rounds 2-0 and 6-2.
Paralympic champion Mahmut Bozteke of T\u00fcrkiye took K44 Mens’ -63kg gold, winning the semi-final against the 2025 Para Taekwondo Male Athlete of the Year Ayoub Adouich of Morocco and the final against Spain\u2019s Joel Martin Villalobos.
An all-Brazilian K44 Women’s -57kg final went the way of two-time Paralympic medallist Silvana Mayara Cardoso Fernandes, who lost the first round to Maria Eduarda Machado Stumpf but went on to take the second and third for gold.
The home crowd had been hopeful of a gold medal to celebrate at the World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix as Italy\u2019s Antonino Bossolo won the first round of the K44 Men’s -70kg final against Japan\u2019s Shunsuke Kudo, but his opponent hit back and won the following two rounds to triumph.
Back-to-back European champion Christina Gkentzou of Greece topped the podium in the K44 Women’s -65kg, claiming an impressive victory over Paralympic gold medallist Ana Carolina Silva de Moura of Brazil by winning the two rounds of the final 4-2 and 7-6.
Uzbekistan\u2019s Kudrat Muhammadiev won an entertaining K44 Men’s -80kg final, triumphing in three rounds against Korea\u2019s Jeong Hun Joo, a two-time Paralympic medallist.
His gold was followed by another for Uzbekistan, as Guljonoy Naimova sealed victory in two rounds against Russia\u2019s Elena Savinskaia in the K44 Women’s +65kg final.
The World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix concluded with a high-profile K44 Men’s +80kg final between two reigning Paralympic champions \u2013 Matt Bush of Great Britain and Asadbek Toshtemirov of Uzbekistan, who was victorious in the -80kg at Paris 2024 and has since moved in weight category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toshtemirov had hoped to round off the day with a third successive gold for his country and won a high-scoring first round. However, Bush was leading in the second round when Toshtemirov sustained an injury which resulted in the contest being stopped.
After the competition, World Taekwondo President Dr Chungwon Choue presented Lisa Kjaer with her certificate and badge, having been appointed to the World Taekwondo Council. Kjaer is a four-time world champion who won Paralympic gold for Denmark at Tokyo 2020 in the K44 W -58kg weight category and bronze at Paris 2024 in the W -65kg.
Action continues in Rome today with the first day of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix, featuring competition in the Women’s -57kg and -67kg and the Men’s -80kg weight categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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