[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Great Britain, Iran and Croatia clinched one gold medal each on the third day of the 2011 WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Gyeongju, China on May 3, 2011.
In the women’s -67kg weight category, Great Britain’s Sarah Diana Stevenson required a fourth sudden-death round to grab the gold medal against China’s Guo Yunfei, the gold medal winner at the 2010 Asian Games.
Stevenson, the bronze medal winner at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, advanced to the final match as she managed to brush aside a stiff challenge from Korea’s Kyung-seon Kwang, the gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The bronze medal in the women’s division went to Korea’s Hwang and Germany’s Helena Fromm.
In the women’s -53kg final match, Croatia’s Ana Zaninovic, the gold medalist at the 2010 Dutch Open, easily defeated Morocco’s Lamyaa Bekkali, the gold medal winner at the 2009 Africa Championships, 14-8 to earn her country the gold medal. Zaninovic reached the final match with a 13-3 victory against Korea’s Hye Young Lee, the gold medalist at the 2001 Jeju World Taekwondo Championships.
Korea’s Lee and Turkey’s Hatice Kubra Yangin shared the bronze medal in the women’s division.
Iran’s Farzad Abdollahi won the gold medal in the men’s -80kg weight category as he defeated Turkey’s Yunus Sari, the bronze medalist at the 2010 Dutch Open, 5-1 in the final match. Abdollahi, the bronze medalist at the 2010 Asian Games, advanced to the final match with a 1-0 victory over Azerbaijan’s Ramin Azizov, the bronze medalist at the 2010 Fajr Open.
The bronze went to Azerbaijan’s Azizov and Morocco’s Issam Chernoubi in the men’s category.