MOSCOW, Russia (August 16, 2015) – Iran and Korea clinched one gold medal each on the third and final day of competition at the 2015 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 1 in Moscow, Russia on August 16, 2015.
In the female -57kg final match, Iran’s Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin, ranked 40th in the world, was behind in the entire match, seemingly unable to penetrate the cagey defense of Great Britain’s Jade Jones, the world-ranked number two, and was behind 3:0.
But in the last seconds of the third round, the Iranian connected with a head kick for three points that took the match to golden point. In the sudden-death round, Alizadeh Zenoorin kept her cool and scored to take the match and the gold medal and prize money of $5,000.
Egypt’s Hedaya Malak and Croatia’s Martina Zubcic shared the bronze medal in the category.
The final of the men’s -68kg division was a Korean-Korean affair, with Hun Kim taking on compatriot and team mate Dae-hoon Lee. Although both fighters know each other inside out, they delivered a fine display of technical taekwondo.
Kim, who is ranked 16th in the world, was ahead in the first round at 7-1, but Lee, ranked third in the world, reduced the deficit to 8-7 in the second round. At the end of the third, the two Koreans were tied at 12-12 for the fourth golden-point round. Both athletes were landing round kicks to the body that drew gasps from the audience, but it was Kim who registered on the PSS taking a deserved victory: He had been ahead for most of the game.
The bronze went to host Russia’s Maksim Khramtcov and Iran’s Abolfazl Yaghoubi Jouybar in the same category.
And in a surprise addition to the Grand Prix scenario, Egypt’s Hedaya Malak, the bronze medalist in the female -57kg category, was named “Miss Grand Prix” Moscow and presented with a bouquet of flowers.
After three days of heated competition at the Moscow Grand Prix event, a total of 19 countries took home at least one medal. A total of 245 athletes from 52 countries competed for top honors at the Moscow event, which took place at the Dinamo Krylatskoye Gymnasium.
In the men’s division, Korea took one gold medal, one silver medal and two bronze medals for the overall title, followed by Iran with one gold and one bronze. Uzbekistan and Cote d’Ivoire clinched one gold each, while host Russia took one silver and one bronze.
In the women’s category, Korea grabbed the overall crown with two gold medals, followed by Turkey with one gold and one bronze. Iran followed with one gold, while China took home two silvers. Great Britain grabbed one silver and one bronze.
