World Taekwondo Women’s Open Championships:
Moradi cruises to gold in -67kg
Iran’s Saghar Moradi stole the show on the final day of the World Taekwondo Women’s Open Championships in Taiyuan, China, marching to the gold medal in the -67kg class without conceding a single round across six bouts.
Entering the tournament fresh off a bronze-winning run at the WT President’s Cup in Lahore a fortnight ago, the Iranian rounded out her emphatic campaign with a victory over European champion Styliani Marentaki of Greece.
Moradi defeated Daria Maslii in her first bout before beating the host’s Xing Jiani and American Chloe Chua to progress to the quarterfinals.
A victory over Croatia’s Doris Pole saw Moradi set up a last-four clash with high-profile Serbian Aleksandra Perisic – a silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympics – who was also outmuscled in back-to-back rounds by the Iranian.
With the G4 event serving as part of the qualification pathway for the Los Angeles Olympics, Sunday’s triumph helped Moradi collect 40 ranking points in her bid to book a berth at the sporting extravaganza in two years.
Moradi’s gold took Iran’s haul to two medals across three days of action, following Hana Zarrinkamar’s silver in the +73kg class on the opening day.
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 formidable British opponent, Lauren Williams – a silver medalist at Tokyo 2020 – losing 11-5 and 16-5 in straight rounds to earn 24 ranking points.
The tournament, however, proved one to forget for five other members of the Iranian squad, including Olympic silver medalist Nahid Kiani, after they all finished empty-handed in their respective categories.
An Asian champion in May, Kiani fell to American former world champion Makayla Greenwood in her first outing in the -57kg contest.
Fatemeh Ahmadi (+73kg), Saina Karimi (-46kg), Hasti Mohammadi (-57kg) and Yalda Valinejad (-62kg) suffered early exits, while Nastaran Valizadeh was beaten by the host’s Wu Shanshan in the -62kg quarterfinals.