World Taekwondo Women’s Open Championships:
Zarrinkamar provides silver lining in Iran’s dire run
Teenage sensation Hana Zarrinkamar saved Iran’s campaign at the World Taekwondo Women’s Open Championships in Taiyuan, China, by winning silver in the +73kg class.
Zarrinkamar’s medal was the sole success in a dire campaign for head coach Mahrouz Saei’s squad, which entered the tournament on the back of a medal-laden campaign at last week’s WT President’s Cup in Lahore, but saw its six other members finish empty-handed in their respective categories.
Reigning two-time world champion Zarrinkamar picked up where she had left off in her gold-winning run in Lahore, conceding just one round in four victories on her way to the final, including a win over former world bronze medalist Zhou Zeqi of China.
In the final, however, the 16-year-old prodigy fell short against her high-profile British opponent, Lauren Williams – an Olympic silver medalist at Tokyo 2020 – losing 11-5 and 16-5 in straight rounds.
Despite the final setback, Zarrinkamar still collected 24 valuable ranking points at the G4 tournament, boosting her bid to secure a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Fatemeh Ahmadi was the other Iranian in the +73kg category, crashing out after a straight-round defeat to Croatian rising star Magdalena Matic in her first bout.
Elsewhere, Olympic silver medalist Nahid Kiani had a campaign to forget in the -57kg class in Taiyuan.
An Asian champion in May, Kiani suffered an early exit after losing to American former world champion Makayla Greenwood in her first outing.
Hasti Mohammadi, meanwhile, was also knocked out in the -57kg class, losing in back-to-back rounds to the host’s Zhang Chuling.
In -46kg, Saina Karimi suffered a quarterfinal defeat to China’s Ye Xiaoting, while Yalda Valinejad’s -62kg run ended after a single bout following a 2-0 defeat to Morocco’s Nada Laaraj.
Nastaran Valizadeh made up for her compatriot’s setback against the Moroccan practitioner, winning in straight rounds before suffering a 2-0 defeat to the host’s Wu Shanshan in the quarterfinals.
Saghar Moradi got off to a winning start in the -67kg event by beating Russia’s Daria Maslii but was beaten in successive rounds by China’s Xing Jiani.