20.05.2019
Turkey’s taekwondo athletes won 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals at the 2019 World Taekwondo Championship, held in Manchester, UK from 15 – 19 May. İrem Yaman was the only gold medallist for Turkey.
In the women’s -62kg, Irem Yaman of Turkey took gold, Brazil’s Caroline Santos took silver, Bruna Vuletic of Croatia and Magda Wiet Henin of France took bronze. Santos opened up the women’s -62kg final against Yaman with a single punch. The second round saw more punches from both opponents and a fall from Santos, but Yaman scored a head shot, bringing the score to 8-2.
With one minute to go of the final round, both fighters increased their intensity in the attack, but Yaman was able to land the greater number of kicks. Despite Santos’ best efforts Yaman won the fight 21-7. Yaman had faced Wiet Henin in the semi final. The fight was close throughout and after three rounds the two fighters could not be separated as the score finished 7-7. It took a final golden point round for Yaman to be declared the winner. In the second semi final Santos fought Vuletic. A strong early round established Santos with a three-point lead. There was very little between the two fighters in the second round but Santos’ lead from the first round proved decisive and she won the match 14-11.
Nur Tatar Took Silver
In the women’s -67kg, China’s Mengyu Zhang won gold, Turkey’s Nur Tatar Askari took silver, Farida Azizova of Azerbaijan and Milena Titoneli of Brazil won bronze. Zhang and Tatar Askari took to the stage for the final to try their chances of winning the gold medal. Zhang landed an early kick to the body to establish the lead but, Tatar Askari responded quickly hitting back with a head shot. The second round started with Zhang scoring two body shots followed by a head shot. Tatar Askari gave it her all but lagged behind with the score at 11-4. The final round started with Tatar Askari scoring a head shot but still couldn’t keep up. With one minute to go until the winner was announced the score was at 13-9 to Zhang. Tatar Askari lost her balance gaining a gam-jeom and China’s Mengyu Zhang became the 2019 women’s -67kg World Champion winning 18-9.
Rukiye Yildirim and Nafi Kus Claimed Bronze
Yildirim faced Wongpattanakit in the first semi-final of the night. Wongpattanakit took an early lead in the match and went into the second round 7-2 up. Yildirim fought back valiantly and landed a number of shots to the body but Wongpattanakit was too strong and won 24-14.
A gam-jeon gave Kus an early lead. Espinoza landed a rarely successful double kick to take a 2-1 lead. Lack of intent to kick from Espinoza cost her a point at the start of the second round to even the scores, 2-2. Grabbing from Espinoza cost her another point and gave Kus a 3-2 lead without having had to land a kick. Espinoza attempted to land a back kick at the end of the second round but Kus saw it coming and defended it well. The start of the final round saw Espinoza give away a gam-jeon for the fourth time in the match to go down 4-2. Espinoza landed a power punch to bring her to within one point of Kus and landed a counter punch to bring the score level and another to go 5-4 up. A gam-jeon at the very end of the match saw Espinoza win the match 6-4.