WANA (Apr 13) – Mohammad Erfan Khodaei has secured the Iranian junior national team’s first taekwondo gold medal of 2026, delivering a flawless performance at the 15th World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Uzbekistan.

 

Competing in the -55kg weight class, Khodaei’s path to the podium began with 2-0 victories over Astorga Melgar of El Salvador and Malaysia’s Prakash.

 

He continued his streak by defeating Albania’s Gjikaj and Po Yu Cheng of Chinese Taipei to reach the semifinals.

 

In the final stages, the Iranian athlete eliminated Kazakhstan’s Medetbayev before facing Poland’s Sokolowski in the championship bout.

 

Khodaei won two consecutive rounds in the final to claim the gold, remarkably finishing the tournament without dropping a single round across six matches.

 

Earlier in the competition, Pinar Lotfizadeh earned a bronze medal for the Iranian squad.

 

The event, hosted at the Tashkent Olympic Sports Complex, features 986 athletes representing 115 countries.