Debut Appearances, Redemption, Feature on Day 3 in Manchester day 3

The final day of competition at the Manchester 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix saw more new faces joining the ranks of the elite, via shock wins.

In the M-80kg, the two Korean wild card entrants - respectively, the winner and runner-up of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix Challenge at the Muju Taekwondowon - demonstrated the value of that event in accelerating the progress of new talent. Hwan Namgoong finished in Muju with silver and in Manchester with bronze - not bad for his debut appearance on the world stage.

Namgoong lost his semifinal to Italy’s Simone Alessio. The Italian, winner of both previous Grand Prix stops this year in Paris and Rome, then took on WT Grand Prix Challenge winner Geon-woo Seo of Team Korea in the final.

It would be a victorious international debut for the latter: The rookie Korean defeated the widely experienced Alessio decisively - in two rounds.

On his way to the final, Seo had also beaten Firas Katousi of Tunisia. In that semifinal finish, Katousi secured his secondGrand Prix bronze to go alongside the one he had won earlier this year in Paris.

Seo joins fellow Korean Tae-joon Park as the second rising star to achieve a surprise breakthrough following success in Muju in June. The Grand Prix Challenge is set to continue in 2023 and further upsets may well lie in store, as up-and-coming athletes surge up the talent pipeline to challenge the veterans.

The W+67kg competition would be a story of redemption for Germany Lorena’s Brandl. In the quarter final, Brandl had defeated home favourite, Great Britain’s Bianca Cook. In doing so, the German reversed the result of their previous encounter this year in Manchester, where the British athlete had won their final of the European Taekwondo Championships.

On her way to the gold, Brandl also defeated Poland’s twotime Grand Prix Winner Aleksandra Kowalczuk in the semifinal.

Brandl’s winning streak then continued in the final, as she took on France’s Althea Laurin and beat her over three rounds.

That was Laurin’s second Grand Prix silver of 2022, following success in Paris. Despite losing to Laurin in their respective semi, Lei Xu of China won bronze in her debut appearance in the series.

The last category of the evening and the event was the M+80kg, with the home crowd heavily behind Great Britain’s Caden Cunningham. Cunningham earned his place in the final with a closely fought victory against 2016 Olympic Champion Cheick Sallah Cisse of Côte d’Ivoire.

The final saw Cunningham take on Brazil’s Maicon Siqueira. Cunningham won the first round; Siqueira won the second. The contest would only be resolved in the last seconds, as Siqueira landed a body kick to win gold.

On his own path to the final, Siqueira had overcome Emre Kutalmis Atesli of Turkiye, winner of the opening 2022 Grand Prix in Rome.

With the conclusion of the Manchester Grand Prix, the scene is now set for the WT Grand Prix Final, set for December in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

MANCHESTER, UK (Oct. 22, 2022)