Brazil, Korea and Hungary claimed gold on an exciting second day of the Paris World Taekwondo Grand Prix, with titles decided in the W -57kg, M -68kg and W -67kg at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brazil\u2019s Maria Clara Pacheco continued her dominant run with a third consecutive Grand Prix gold in the W -57kg, while Korea\u2019s Jinho Mun made it back-to-back titles in the M -68kg. Hungary\u2019s reigning Olympic champion Viviana M\u00e1rton completed the day\u2019s action with a stirring comeback against C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s Ruth Gbagbi to add W -67kg gold to her triumph in Rome. Having\u00a0taken gold at both the Roma and\u00a0Muju\u00a0Grand Prix competitions,\u00a0the reigning world champion\u00a0Maria Clara Pacheco\u00a0of Brazil\u00a0overcame Jordan\u2019s Fadia\u00a0Khirfan\u00a0in Paris to continue her dominant run.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two Gam-jeoms\u00a0against\u00a0Khirfan\u00a0gave Pacheco an early advantage in the opening round, before a head kick extended her lead. The Jordanian fought back, but Pacheco held firm to take it 5-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Brazilian took control again in the second, building a 6-0 lead with 30 seconds remaining.\u00a0Khirfan\u00a0mounted a late challenge, but Pacheco saw out a 6-4 win to complete another impressive day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pacheco had been equally commanding in the semi-finals, beating Kazakhstan\u2019s Mariya\u00a0Sevostyanova\u00a014-3, 16-5 after overcoming Olympic silver medallist Nahid Kiyanichandeh of Iran in the quarter-finals.\u00a0Sevostyanova\u00a0nevertheless celebrated her first Grand Prix medal with bronze.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Khirfan\u00a0secured her place in the final with a two-round victory over USA\u2019s Faith Dillon, who took the other bronze.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silver marked\u00a0Khirfan\u2019s\u00a0first Grand Prix medal, building on her fifth-place finish in\u00a0Muju\u00a0and gold at the Taiyuan 2026 World Taekwondo Women\u2019s Open Championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n M -68kg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Korea\u2019s Mun Jinho made it back-to-back Grand Prix titles in the M -68kg, following up his maiden triumph on home soil in\u00a0Muju.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jinho overcame Uzbekistan\u2019s\u00a0Najmiddin\u00a0Kosimkhojiev, the reigning -74kg world champion, in the final to continue his impressive rise.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair traded scores in a fiercely contested opening round before Jinho broke clear from 4-4 with a flurry of kicks to lead 8-4.\u00a0Kosimkhojiev\u00a0responded strongly, but the Korean stayed ahead through a frantic finish to edge the round 14-12.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jinho stepped up the pace in the second, launching a series of attacks\u00a0to\u00a0ensure there\u00a0was no way back for\u00a0Kosimkhojiev\u00a0and close out\u00a0a dominant 10-0 win to seal gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n An all-Korean semi-final had pitted Jinho against established star Jun Jang, the 2019 world champion, in a fierce three-round contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jang added a 13th Grand Prix medal to his collection with bronze in Paris, having earlier overcome Roma Grand Prix\u00a0champion Berkay Erer in a closely contested quarter-final\u00a02-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the other semi-final,\u00a0Kosimkhojiev\u00a0showed his pedigree with a two-round victory over Jordan\u2019s Olympic silver medallist Zaid Kareem, who claimed his fifth Grand Prix medal with bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n W -67kg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hungary\u2019s Viviana M\u00e1rton continued her impressive form in the W -67kg, adding to her gold in Rome with another commanding day in Paris.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reigning Olympic champion overcame C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s Ruth Gbagbi in the final.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n M\u00e1rton made a quick start to the final, taking a 3-0 lead before\u00a0Gbagbi\u00a0hit back to level the scores. The Ivorian then took control\u00a0to\u00a0close\u00a0out the opening round 10-5.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n M\u00e1rton responded strongly in the second, landing a series of body kicks to build an 8-2 advantage.\u00a0Gbagbi\u00a0soon got\u00a0back within two points, setting up a tense finish, but M\u00e1rton held firm to take the round 10-8 and force a decider.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Olympic champion came out firing in the third, racing into an 11-0 lead with a minute and a half still remaining. From there, M\u00e1rton was relentless, powering to a 26-5 victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n M\u00e1rton had delivered an assured semi-final performance against Uzbekistan\u2019s\u00a0OzodaSobirjonova, winning the opening round 10-6 before pulling clear in the second to take it 9-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sobirjonova\u00a0nevertheless celebrated her first Grand Prix Series medal with bronze, having knocked out\u00a0Muju\u00a0champion Jiani Xing of China in the quarter-finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the other semi-final,\u00a0Gbagbi\u00a0defeated Greece\u2019s reigning European champion Styliani Marentaki in two rounds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Paris 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix concludes tonight with competition in the W -49kg and M -80kg weight categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brazil, Korea and Hungary claimed gold on an exciting second day of the Paris World Taekwondo Grand Prix,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\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\n\t\t\n\t\t
W -57kg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n