World Taekwondo Junior Championships:
Iran’s Houshyar grabs gold, Ebrahimian takes consolation bronze
The penultimate day of action at the World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Tashkent saw Iran’s Parsa Houshyar claim gold in the men’s competition, while Helia Ebrahimian won a bronze in the women’s event, lifting the country’s overall tally to seven medals.
Houshyar, who won the world cadet title less than a year ago in Fujairah, secured Iran’s fourth gold in the Uzbek capital with a hard-fought victory over France’s Nolhan Rosemond in the -63kg final on Thursday.
Rosemond led the first round but conceded five Gam-jeoms (penalty points), handing the round to his opponent. Houshyar appeared on course to win the second round, only for Rosemond to deliver a stunning late body kick and take it 4-3. But Houshyar was not to be denied, claiming the decisive third round 9-6 to seal gold.
Bronze medals went to Serbia’s Sergej Ivanovic and South Korea’s Youngjin Ji.
Houshyar opened his campaign with a straight-round win over Slovenia’s Vid Milosevic, then defeated Senegal’s Malick Diagne, Mexico’s Dylan Alex Solorio, and Türkiye’s Ibrahi Hasanoglu – all in consecutive rounds – to reach the semifinals. He then beat Ivanovic 2-0 to advance to the final.
Elsewhere, Ebrahimian had to settle for joint third place alongside Serbia’s Tina Ninić in the -49kg division after a 2-0 semifinal loss to South Korea’s Lee Siwoo. Lee went on to beat China’s Mixue Li 2-0 in the final.
Abolfazl Najafi was the other Iranian in action on Thursday but was left empty-handed in the men’s -68kg class after a last-16 loss (2-1) to Russia’s Ismail Ismailov.
Thursday’s results followed Hana Zarrinkamar’s back-to-back golds with a win over Czechia’s Alice Bínová in the women’s +68kg final on Tuesday, while Benyamin Soltanian dominated the men’s -73kg event without dropping a single round.
Zarrinkamar’s high scoring and trademark head-kicking impressed throughout the day, and she understood the effort required to translate her talent into titles.
“I have a tall height, and I think this is a really good option for me. I think because of that I became world champion, and I trained a lot – I have to mention it. I am also really good at head kicks,” she told the official website of the sport’s international governing body.
Zarrinkamar knew she would be closely studied by her opponents, but she was delighted to prevail over all of them in the end.
“All the athletes do their best, grow up and train more. They analyze me because my videos on YouTube are available, but fortunately I became world champion again,” she said.
For Soltanian, a blend of powerful kicks and accurate punching proved the winning formula in Tashkent. He credits his parents with motivating him to succeed in the sport.
“I did some punches, and am really good at strong kicks,” Soltanian said.
Both athletes’ ambitions stretch far beyond the junior stage. The 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar is the next major target.
Soltanian spoke for both of their approaches to going beyond that and seeking Olympic gold at Los Angeles 2028.
“You go step by step. You should go first to the Youth Olympics. Then we have to keep going in senior competition, training a lot to achieve it,” he said.
Tashkent 2026 has already proved a key stepping stone, as Zarrinkamar Roudbari explained.
“Most of the athletes that we fight will also participate in that competition [Dakar 2026],” she noted.
The Iranian team travelled by road for 27 hours to Turkmenistan, followed by connecting flights to Tashkent in order to attend the World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
This highlights the passion and determination of the taekwondo community in Iran, and Zarrinkamar and Soltanian gave them a day to remember, which also saw Bahar Tahmasbi win a bronze in the women’s -42kg category.
Mohammad-Erfan Khodaei earned Iran’s first gold of the competition with a 2-0 victory over Poland’s Antoni Sokolowski in the men’s -55kg final – his sixth straight-round win of the tournament.
Pinar Lotfizadeh (women’s -59kg) opened Iran’s account in Tashkent with a bronze medal on the first day of the event.
The six-day 15th edition of the championships featured 986 competitors from 115 countries.
Iran won 11 medals at the previous edition in Chuncheon, South Korea, in 2024, including a remarkable seven golds, completing a clean sweep of the team titles.