Afghanistan win Asian Open Taekwondo

Pakistan take silver medal and Kazakhstan grab third place in overall standings

ISLAMABAD:

Afghanistan won the fifth COMBAXX Asian Open Taekwondo Championship by winning two gold and two silver medals. Pakistan came second with two gold, one silver and seven bronze medals while the Kazakhstan team came third with one gold and four silver medals.

In the women’s event of the championship, Kazakhstan came first with four gold, one silver and three bronze medals, Great Britain came second with one gold and two silver medals whereas Iran came third with one gold and one silver medal.

In the prize distribution ceremony of the championship, the distinguished guests were the President of the Asian Taekwondo Union Prof. Kyu Seok Lee, Squash legend Jahangir Khan, Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Pakistan Yerzhan Kistafin, Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikaw, President of Pakistan Taekwondo Federation Colonel (retd) Waseem Janjua, Technical Delegate of the Championship Kook Hyun Jung, and CEO Umar Saeed distributed the prizes.

Earlier, On the last day of the championship's kyorugi event, four different weight category competitions were held.

In the men’s competitions of 58kg final, Kazakhstan’s Zhavokhirkhon Islamov performed brilliantly and won the gold medal by defeating Lev Korneev of Serbia 2-1 in an interesting match.

Muhammad Nadhim of Iraq won the bronze medal while Samikhon of Kazakhstan won the fourth bronze.

In the men’s -80kg category finals, Korea’s Geon-Woo Seo won 2-0 against Serbia’s Rustam Odinaev to win gold, while Iraq’s Saif Taher Habeeb won the bronze, while Pakistan’s Mazhar Abbas won the fourth.

In the women’s 62 kg category final, Serbia’s Nadja Savkpvic won gold with a 2-1 victory over Pakistan’s Zoya Sabir, however, Pakistan’s Sara Rehman and Hajra Shakeel took bronze and fourth respectively.

In the women’s +73 category final, Kazakhstan’s Cansel Deniz won 2-0 against Pakistan’s Manisha Ali. Pakistan’s Hina Khan grabbed bronze whereas Nuzrat Mumtaz took the fourth bronze medal.