World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series:
Zandi, Razmian crash out in second round
Iran’s Abolfazl Zandi and Mahdi Razmian suffered second-round exits in the men’s -58kg category on the opening day of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series event at Taekwondowon in Muju, South Korea, on Saturday.
Reigning world and Olympic champion Zandi opened his campaign with a straight-round victory over Saudi Arabia’s Riad Nasser Hamdi before suffering a 2-1 defeat to two-time world champion Bae Jun-seo of South Korea.
Razmian, meanwhile, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Pan Kuei-en 2-1 in his first outing but was undone by Croatia’s Josip Teskera by the same scoreline.
Mehran Barkhordari and Asian champion Amirsina Bakhtiari are the other Iranians in the men’s competition in Muju and will get their campaigns underway on Sunday.
Olympic silver medalist Nahid Kiani will also be in action on Day 2, looking to bounce back from a shock first-round defeat at the WT Women’s Open Championships last week in Taiyuan, China. She will compete in the women’s -57kg event.
Saturday’s results came after Iranians had bagged one gold and two bronze medals at the World Para Taekwondo Grand Prix Series on the preceding day in the South Korean city.
Five-time world champion and former Paralympic silver medalist Mahdi Pourrahnama rounded out his men’s K44 -80kg campaign with a final victory over Kazakhstan’s Nurlan Dombayev, while Alireza Bakht – beaten by Pourrahnama in an all-Iranian semifinal – settled for bronze.
Amirmohammad Haqiqatshenas also finished with a consolation bronze in the men’s competition after losing to Italian fourth seed Antonino Bossolo in the K44 -70kg class.
The women’s competition, however, was one to forget for Iran as Roza Ebrahimi (-52kg), Paralympic silver medalist Zahra Rahimi (-57kg), Parimah Tourani (-65kg) and Marziyeh Nasrollahi (+65kg) all missed out on the podium in their respective divisions.
Ranking gains
Iranians have made significant gains in the latest World Taekwondo rankings following strong performances at the Chuncheon Korea Open, WT President’s Cup and Women’s World Open Championships.
The latest rankings, released by World Taekwondo, cover the Olympic standings in four men’s and three women’s weight classes, as well as the world rankings across eight men’s and seven women’s divisions.
Teenage prodigy Hana Zarrinkamar tops the Olympic women’s +67kg rankings with 116 points. Zarrinkamar won gold at both the Korea Open and President’s Cup before claiming silver at the Women’s World Open Championships in Taiyuan. She is also ranked No. 1 in the world in the +73kg division.
Elsewhere in the women’s rankings, Saghar Moradi climbed an impressive 58 places to fourth in the Olympic -67kg rankings with 58 points. Her bronze medal at the President’s Cup and gold at the Women’s World Open Championships were key to her rise.
Nastaran Valizadeh is 11th in the Olympic -57kg standings and sixth in the world in the -62kg division, while Kiani is 29th in the Olympic -57kg rankings and 17th in the world in the same category.
In the men’s Olympic rankings, Zandi climbed 18 places to fourth in the -58kg division with 50 points, while Mahdi Hajimousaei also moved up 18 places to third in the Olympic -68kg rankings with 50 points after winning gold at the Chuncheon Open and President’s Cup. He is ranked No. 1 in the world in the -63kg category.
Danial Bozorgi made one of the biggest jumps in the latest rankings, soaring 256 places to 20th in the Olympic -68kg standings with 30 points after winning the President’s Cup. He is also ranked 10th in the world in the -68kg division.
Olympic champion Arian Salimi, meanwhile, climbed 12 places to third in the Olympic +80kg rankings with 50 points, while his compatriot Mohammad-Hossein Yazdani is 13th with 30 points. Yazdani is fifth in the world in the -87kg category.