SOFIA 2022 Bulgarian President Attends

World Taekwondo Junior Championships

Day 1

The Sofia 2022 World Taekwondo Junior Championships got going today with President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev and World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue officially opening the event following a thrilling performance by the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team.

More than 1,250 athletes, aged 15-17, from 90 countries plus a refugee team are competing in Sofia. The semifinals and finals of the W-42kg, M-45kg and W-44kg followed the opening ceremony and saw gold medals go to Iran, Korea and Thailand.

Radev and Choue were joined by President of Taekwondo Bulgaria Slavi Binev to open the event.

“For centuries, ancient combat sports developed perfection of the physique and character; provided education in discipline and responsibility; and promoted respect not only for the partner, but also for the opponent,” Radev said in his address. “That is why even today Taekwondo is one of the most popular sports, but not only that, Taekwondo is a symbol of peace and good neighborliness.”

The Bulgarian president urged all players to be examples of the principles of fair play and values in physical education. Choue focused on the potential for future glory.

“Cadets and Juniors are the foundation of Taekwondo,” he said. “At the Olympic Games last year, 17 out of the 32 medals were won by athletes who had medalled at the Youth Olympic Games or at the World Taekwondo Cadet and Junior championships.”

Given that, many of the juniors in Sofia would go on to become senior-division champions, Choue said - adding “Taekwondo is your pathway to fulfilling your dreams.”

Then the action began.

In the first of the night’s finals, Iran’s Sogand Shiri faced Hayrunnisa Gurbuz of Türkiye in the W-42kg. It was an exceptionally tight match with the first round ending 7-7, but Shiri was awarded the round on superiority. In the second round, little could separate the two with the score tied at 11-11 with just 45 seconds remaining, but Shiri turned up the pressure and won the round and the match.

In the second final it was the turn of Yeon-ui Choo from Korea and Yi-chi Li of Chinese Taipei in the M-45kg. Choo narrowly overcame Li in the first round with a score of 9-8. With just 15 seconds to go in the second round the scores were all even. Both fighters recognised the round was there for the taking and upped their intensity but it was Choo who was more accurate with his kicks and he won the round 9-6 to take gold.

The last final of the night, the W-44kg, followed the two that preceded it in the first round as the score was very close with Iran’s Parnia Salmani narrowly beating Natkamon Wassana from Thailand 4-3. However, the second round was a completely different story as Wassana won 12-0. In the final round Wassana picked up from where she left off and took an early and commanding lead. Salmani fought back valiantly in the last 30 seconds but Wassana was too strong and won the round 15-8.