Khodaei secures Iran's first gold at 2026 World Taekwondo Junior C’ships
Mohammad Erfan Khodaei delivered an absolute masterclass to capture Iran’s first gold medal at the 15th World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Uzbekistan.
Competing in the boys' -55 kg weight class at Tashkent's Olympic Sports Complex on Monday, Khodaei dominated the tatami, winning all six of his bouts without dropping a single round.
His title campaign began with a commanding 2-0 victory over El Salvador’s Astorga Melgar. He followed that up with identical 2-0 sweeps against Malaysia’s Prakash and Albania’s Gjikaj.
The Iranian standout continued his impressive run by defeating Chinese Taipei’s Po-Yu Cheng in the quarterfinals. He then overpowered Kazakhstan's Medetbay to set up a gold-medal showdown.
In the final, Khodaei proved unstoppable against Poland's Sokolowski, sweeping the match in two consecutive rounds to decisively claim the world championship title.
Following his emphatic victory, social media footage showed an emotional Khodaei taking a victory lap with the Iranian flag before laying it on the mat and kissing it.
In other action on Monday, which featured the girls' -55 kg and boys' -48 kg and -55 kg categories, Khodaei's compatriots Taha Nazer and Dina Babarahim fell short of the podium.
The 15th World Taekwondo Junior Championships, which kicked off on Sunday in Tashkent, will run for six days.
The global tournament has drawn a massive roster of 986 competitors from 115 nations, competing across 10 weight classes for both boys and girls.
Iran has fielded a team of 19 taekwondo practitioners—10 boys and 9 girls.
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