World Taekwondo Championships:
Barkhordari, Nasiri finish empty-handed with Iran’s woes continuing in Wuxi
Iran endured another disappointing day at the World Taekwondo Championships in Wuxi, China, as Mehran Barkhordari and Saeideh Nasiri crashed out in their respective divisions on Monday.
An Olympic silver medalist in Paris last year, Barkhordari delivered strong performances – including a 2-1 victory over two-time Asian champion Jasurbek Jaysunov of Uzbekistan – to reach the quarterfinals in the men’s -80kg event, only to fall 2-0 (2-2, 8-7) to China’s Xiang Qizhang, surrendering a 4-1 lead with 30 seconds remaining in the second round.
Making her World Championships debut, Nasiri secured back-to-back straight-round wins against Ana Belo of Timor-Leste and Azerbaijan’s Minaya Akbarova in the women’s -46kg category, before her run ended in the round of 16 against Costa Rican Jaycee Bassett, representing the World Taekwondo team.
Mahdi Hajimousaei remains the only Iranian to have won a medal in Wuxi, settling for silver in the men’s -63kg class after an injury forced him to withdraw midway through final against Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi on Saturday.
The first day of the competition had seen Olympic champion Arian Salimi and Nahid Kiani – a silver winner in Paris – suffer last-16 exits in the men’s +87kg and women’s -57kg classes respectively.
Mahla Momenzadeh, meanwhile, failed to add to her 2019 world silver, falling to Mah Teninba Fofana of France in the second round in the women’s -49kg on Saturday.
On Sunday, Mohammad-Hossein Yazdani impressed with a second-round victory over former world champion Park Woo-hyeok of South Korea in the men’s -87kg but fell to a last-eight exit in three rounds against Italy’s Olympic bronze medalist Simone Alessio.
Mahdi Razmian’s campaign in the men’s -54kg ended in the second round after a defeat against Jordan’s Jaafar Al-Daoud, while Melika Mirhosseini also crashed out in the second round, losing to China’s Zhou Zeqi in the women’s -73kg category.