Kiani bags silver at World Taekwondo GP
Iran’s Nahid Kiani settled for a silver medal at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Taiyuan, China.
A gold medalist in May’s World Championships in Baku, Kiani enjoyed an impressive run en route to the women’s -57kg final on Tuesday, only to suffer a 2-1 defeat against Canadian Skylar Park and grab a second silver at this year’s event following a runner-up finish in the first series in Rome back in June.
Having stepped into the competitions on the back of a shock first-round exit at the Asian Games two weeks ago, the Iranian came out victorious (2-1) against American Faith Dillon before defeating Lo Chia-ling of the Chinese Taipei – a two-time world silver medalist and a bronze winner in Tokyo Olympics – by the same scoreline in the quarterfinals.
Kiani then came out on top against Russian Tatiana Minina – who won the silver in Tokyo and participated in the Taiyuan event as neutral athlete – for a place in the final showdown.
The silver medal was still enough for Kiani to retain her fourth spot in the Olympic Kyorugi Ranking and edge ever closer to a quota for the Paris 2024 Games.
Mahdi Hajimousaei and Abolfazl Zandi were the other Iranians in action on Tuesday – both taking part in the men’s -58kg contests – but finished their campaigns empty-handed.
Hajimousaei, a gold medalist in September’s Series 2 in Paris, was knocked out by South Korean Park Tae-joon, while Zandi, runner-up to Hajimousaei in the French capital, fell to a last-16 defeat against Tunisian Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi, who went on to claim the gold.