Iran Dominates the First Day

The first day of the Taekwondo Championships at the 16th Asian Games showcased a thrilling and electrifying event and a promise of more to come.

In the Males division Under 74 Kgs, Alireza Nasr Azadani went through a tough draw to Beat Korea in his first match and then win the home crowd favorite from China in his second fight.

After that it was time for the Tajik player to lose to the eventual Asian Champion.

The Iranian fighter then faced Thongsaloup Patiwat from Thailand in the semi finals and overcame a gallant try from the Thai fighter to reach the final.

In the fight for the Asian Crown Nasr Azadani had to face an opponent from Uzbakistan that had showed he does not give easy.

The first round of the Final for the under 74 Kgs new champ ended as a very close fight and just as the spectators thought the championship would be up for grabs by either player the Iranian fighter put on an impressive show from the second round and the fight ended up as a lop sided win by the score of 11-2.

In this weight Thailand and Vietnam took Bronze medals.

Under 87 Kgs saw 12 contestants trying their skills to introduce a new Champion.

On the top half of the draw Iran and China looked as the favorites and on the bottom half Korea looked set to reach the finals.

As expected Iran and China reached the semi finals to have their winner face Park Hong Hyun from Korea in the finals.

In an exciting match Yousef Karami from Iran was able to beat Yin Zimeng from China to reach the Final.

The history had repeated itself and once again Korea and Iran taekwondo were looking eye to eye.

The final did not disappoint the spectators and in a very closely contested match that saw both fighters go toe to toe Karami was able to come on top and beat Park 4-2 and become the new under 87 Kgs Asian Taekwondo Champion of the 16th Asian Games.

In the females division, where Korean women had showed very strong in the past few years were surprised by some new challengers.

In the Under 46 Kgs Hwang Mi Na from Korea was upset by the eventual Champion from Chinese Taipei in the first round.

In this weight category Dana Touran who lost the final 6-3 to Chinese Taipei took the Sliver medal and Sara Khosh Jamal Fekry from Iran and Alizhanova from Kazakhstan got Bronze medals.

In Under 49 Kgs WU Jingyu, 2008 Beijing Olympic Champion, once again showed her supremacy by beating everyone and taking the Gold.

Japan’s Erika Kasahara showed that her silver medal in the 2009 WTF World Championship in Denmark was no fluke and took the silver medal with Vietnam and Thailand following with Bronze.