Golds Go to France, Korea and Turkiye

Jordan’s Julyana Al-Sadeq and France’s Magda Wiet Henin met in the final. Al-Sadeq had never won a Grand Prix medal before so went into the match knowing she would set a new personal record, whatever the outcome.

Wiet Henin took an early lead in the first round with a kick to the body. Al-Sadeq grew into the round and landed a body kick of her own before unleashing a spinning kick to take a 7-3 lead. A kick to the head followed by a body kick extended her lead and she finished the round 15-3.

Two early Gam-jeoms saw Wiet Henin take a 2-0 lead at the start of the second round. The two fighters defended well without either able to break through. Wiet Henin landed a front kick to the body in the closing seconds to win the round 4-1 and take it to the third.

In Round 3, Wiet Henin opened the scoring with a kick to the body. The score remained 2-0 for the majority of the round but in the last 15 seconds the two fighters exchanged fire with Al-Sadeq landing a head kick and Wiet Henin registering three consecutive kicks to the body to win the round

In the semifinal, Al-Sadeq had faced Korea’s Jan-di Kim. In the first round it was just one kick to the body which separated them and gave Al-Sadeq an early lead. A low scoring second round saw Al-Sadeq claim the match as she won the round 4-1. In the second semifinal, Côte d’Ivoire’s former World Champion Ruth Gbagbi was matched against Wiet Henin. In the first round the pair couldn’t be separated on points as it finished 2-2 but Wiet Henin won on superiority. The second round reflected how evenly matched the two fighters were as

The second day of competition at the Roma 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix once again delivered spectacular Taekwondo and last-second drama as France, Korea and Turkiye took home golds.

For Team Turkiye, it was their second title in two days as Emre Kutalmis Atesli won gold in the M+80kg. France’s Magda Wiet Henin won in the W-67kg and Korea’s Da-bin Lee won gold in the W+67kg.

Silver medals were shared between Jordan, Puerto Rico and Côte d’Ivoire, while the bronze medals were split between Côte d’Ivoire, Great Britain (two), Italy, Korea, and North Macedonia.

+67kg

Puerto Rico’s Crystal Weekes and Korea’s Da-bin Lee came together in the final of the W+67kg.

Lee took an early lead with a kick to the body; Weekes responded quickly with a kick to the head. Weekes looked as though she was heading for the win but with 15 seconds on the clock, Lee did the necessary - landing to the head and winning the round, 5-4. In the second, Weekes took the lead again with a kick to the head. Lee thought she had landed one of her own only for it to be ruled out by the referee. With 25 seconds remaining, Weekes was 4-0 up but in a repeat of the first round, Lee managed to end the round the stronger. She landed a kick to the body followed by a head kick which knocked Weekes to the ground. A highly professional performance from Lee, who took the round, 7-4 the match and the gold.

Weekes had overcome Great Britain’s Rebecca McGowan in the first semifinal earlier in the evening. The Puerto Rican scored within the first few seconds and won the first round 9-0. McGowan started the second aggressively but could not convert it into points. A successful review gave her the lead but she was quickly pegged back by Weekes who landed a last-second kick to the body to win 6-4.

Lee had faced hometown favourite Maristella Smiraglia of Italy in the second semifinal. Smiraglia was first to score but Lee had too much in the first round and won 6-1. With the crowd roaring her on, Smiraglia took the lead in the second, but Lee’s experience proved too much and a head kick restored her lead and won her both the round and the match.

+80kg

The fight got off to a frantic start with Turkiye’s Emre Kutalmis Atesli landing an early head kick to take a 3-0 lead against Rio Olympic Champion Cheick Sallah Cisse from Côte d’Ivoire. A punch and Gam-jeom for leaving the mats brought the score to 3-2. Cisse found his range with a double punch combination to bring the score to 5-5. With seven seconds left, the scores were tied at 6-6 but with the last kick of the round Atesli connected cleanly with Cisse’s body protector to win the round 8-6.

Just under ten seconds into the second round, Cisse was forced to retire due to injury - granting Atesli gold. Atesli celebrated with compatriot Hakan Recber who had won gold for Turkiye the previous night.

Atesli had faced Great Britain’s Caden Cunningham in the semifinal. The young Brit had led for the majority of the first round. With only three seconds to go both fighters landed head kicks but with Atesli’s spinning kick he took the round. Cunningham was unable to recover and lost the second round 7-5.

Cisse had taken on Macedonian Dejan Georgievski in the second semi. Both fighters brought high energy to the first round and landed a number of powerful kicks to the body. It was a round full of plenty of drama and excitement but after a number of reviews, it was Cisse who won 14-6. The second round did not deliver quite the same high scores but was no less enthralling as Cisse managed a narrow 4-2 win.