A dramatic opening day of the Roma World Taekwondo Grand Prix at the Foro Italico saw two top seeds settle blockbuster rematches of previous finals with gold, while Spain\u2019s Juan Antonio Mil\u00e1n C\u00e1novas sprang a huge surprise.
Maria Clara Pacheco of Brazil in the women’s -57kg and Viviana M\u00e1rton of Hungary in the women’s -67kg celebrated the latest victory of their glittering careers, while Mil\u00e1n C\u00e1novas took men’s -80kg gold as the 27th seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first final of the Grand Prix brought a rematch of the gold-medal clash at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships, as the top two seeds Pacheco and Yu Jin-kim of Korea battled their way through from the round of 16 without losing a round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was Pacheco who remained in imperious form in the gold medal match \u2013 the reigning world champion won the first round 6-2, and delivered a dominant display in the second to triumph 14-2.
The under-21 world champion Amina Dehhaoui of Morocco enjoyed a fine run to the semi-finals before losing out to Pacheco, while in the other half of the draw third seed Ella Brewster of Canada was edged out Kim.
The men’s -80kg weight category produced the day\u2019s biggest upset as C\u00e1novas powered his way to gold.
His crowning moment came with a stunning victory in the final against the reigning world champion and 2025 World Taekwondo Male Athlete of the Year Henrique Marques Rodrigues Fernandes of Brazil.
Mil\u00e1n C\u00e1novas clinched both rounds in emphatic fashion, winning the first 15-4 and the second 22-5.
In the semi-finals, C\u00e1novas had lost his first round of the day to USA\u2019s CJ Nickolas, a two-time World Taekwondo Grand Prix Challenge winner in 2025, who claimed an emphatic 18-1 win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nickolas appeared to be on his way to the final in the second round, but C\u00e1novas produced a wonderful late flourish to take it 9-7, and completed a superb turnaround by winning the third 11-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the other half of the draw, Rodrigues Fernandes also had to recover from losing the first round to beat recently-crowned European champion Stefan Takov of Serbia.
Another notable rematch came in the third final of the day, as M\u00e1rton faced Serbia\u2019s Aleksandra Peri\u0161i\u0107 in a repeat of the women’s -67kg final at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was M\u00e1rton who once again emerged victorious in Rome with a typically strong performance, clinching the first round of the final 12-4 and the second 10-2.
That completed a run to gold in which top seed M\u00e1rton did not lose a round, including her semi-final victory against Korea\u2019s Hyo Rim Hong.
Peri\u0161i\u0107 also enjoyed an excellent day to progress to the final, including winning a three-round match in the semi-final against Greece\u2019s -67kg European champion Styliani Marentaki.
Day two of the Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix tonight will feature competition in the women’s +67kg and the men’s -68kg and +80kg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A dramatic opening day of the Roma World Taekwondo Grand Prix at the Foro Italico saw two top<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13504,"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-13503","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