{"id":5116,"date":"2025-10-24T21:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=5116"},"modified":"2025-10-24T21:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:35:10","slug":"brazils-maria-clara-pacheco-and-koreas-sang-hyun-kang-claim-opening-day-gold-medals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/brazils-maria-clara-pacheco-and-koreas-sang-hyun-kang-claim-opening-day-gold-medals\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil\u2019s Maria Clara Pacheco\u00a0and\u00a0Korea\u2019s\u00a0Sang Hyun Kang\u00a0claim opening day gold medals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships began with a day of thrilling competition from the world\u2019s best athletes in the Women\u2019s -57kg and Men\u2019s +87kg weight categories, with Brazil\u2019s Maria Clara Pacheco and Korea\u2019s Sang Hyun Kang claiming the gold medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since winning the bronze medal at the\u00a02023\u00a0World Taekwondo Championships in Baku,\u00a0Pacheco has risen to number one in the world in her weight category. She has enjoyed an outstanding season with\u00a0back-to-back World Taekwondo Grand Prix Challenge victories in Charlotte\u00a0and\u00a0Muju, and this was a crowning moment for the 22-year-old as she beat the Olympic champion\u00a0Yu\u00a0Jin Kim\u00a0of Korea in two rounds in the Women\u2019s -57kg final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang was Men\u2019s -87kg gold medallist at the Baku 2023 World Taekwondo Championships, and he starred having moved up a weight category in Wuxi with an impressive comeback against Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) Rafail Aiukaev in the +87kg final. Although the powerful Aiukaev dominated the first round, Kang hit back brilliantly and celebrated a memorable victory from a pulsating encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s -57kg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Women\u2019s -57kg final brought together the two top-ranked athletes, and Pacheco began the first round in ideal fashion with a successful body kick to give her a two-point lead. She defended strongly for much of the round, and although Kim was able to respond with a body kick of her own, it was not enough to deny Pacheco the lead in the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was followed by a captivating second round which ebbed and flowed. Pacheco concededfour gam-jeom and Kim had two head kicks awarded on video review, but the power and precision of the Brazilian helped her to triumph 12-10 and take gold on her World Taekwondo Championships debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacheco\u2019s route to the final included a confident win in the semi-finals against home favourite Zongshi Luo of China, the gold medallist at the Guadalajara 2022 World Taekwondo Championships and now bronze medallist in Wuxi. Kim enjoyed a resounding semi-final victory against Jordan\u2019s Fadia Khirfan, but her opponent was able to claim a commendable bronze on her debut at a senior World Taekwondo Championships, including a victory against the number three seed Kanelya Carabin of France in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Korea\u2019s Sang Hyun Kang claims the gold medal in the men’s +87kg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Men\u2019s +87kg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aiukaev, a World Taekwondo Grand Slam Challenge winner on his last visit to Wuxi in December 2024, had the better of the first round of an exciting Men\u2019s +87kg final, dominating proceedings with a series of punches and body kicks to give him a healthy lead, and eventually winning it 7-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Kang hit back strongly in the second round and stormed into an 8-0 lead. Aiukaevresponded with a flurry of body kicks and punches which pulled the scores back to 8-7 and piled the pressure on Kang, but he held on in the remaining seconds to take the match to a decider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang then delivered an assured display in the third round, taking an early lead and managing the contest superbly to clinch it 6-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His victory in the final followed on from a superb performance to beat the top seed Jonathan Healy of the USA in the semi-finals, while Aiukaev was equally impressive in overcoming Great Britain\u2019s Olympic silver medallist Caden Cunningham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day two of the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships will feature competition in the Men\u2019s -63kg and Women\u2019s -49kg weight categories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships began with a day of thrilling competition from the world\u2019s best athletes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5118,"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":[264],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5116","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\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