WANA (Jun 21) – The Iranian women’s national taekwondo team concluded its campaign at the Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships with a total of five medals: one gold, one silver, and three bronze. The women’s division competitions took place on Tuesday in Chuncheon, featuring 228 athletes.

 

Hana Zarrinkamar led the Iranian squad by capturing the lone gold medal, while Nahid Kiani claimed silver. Saina Karimi, Saghar Moradi, and Baran Nemati each secured a bronze medal. Team members Rouzhan Goudarzi, Hasti Mohammadi, Fereshteh Fathi, and Fatemeh Ahmadi were eliminated in their respective divisions.

 

Gold in Heavyweight

In the +73kg category, Hana Zarrinkamar received a first-round bye before decisively defeating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Nai in straight rounds with a significant point gap. She went on to secure a convincing victory over Song Da-bin of South Korea in the semifinals.

 

In the final, Zarrinkamar faced Guo Li of China; after dropping the opening round, she mounted a comeback to win the next two rounds and claim Iran’s only gold medal in the women’s division. In the same weight class, Fatemeh Ahmadi defeated an opponent from Uzbekistan before falling to South Korea’s Song Da-bin.

 

Silver in Featherweight

In the -57kg category, Nahid Kiani advanced through the early rounds by beating India’s Malik and Australia’s Hemor. She then defeated Uzbekistan’s Abdullayeva in the quarterfinals and China’s Zhang in the semifinals to secure a spot in the final.

 

Kiani ultimately earned the silver medal after a 2-0 defeat against Morocco’s Oumaima El Bouchti. Hasti Mohammadi, competing in the same weight division, notched victories over athletes from the U.S. and China before being eliminated by El Bouchti.

 

Three Bronze Medals

-46kg: Saina Karimi opened her tournament with a victory over the UK’s Lauren Dunsmore, followed by wins against Russia’s Postnikova and China’s Wang to reach the semifinals. She was stopped by another Chinese representative in straight rounds, taking home the bronze medal.

 

-67kg: Saghar Moradi launched her campaign by defeating South Korea’s Park So-hyun, then powered past America’s Niedzwiecki and Chinese Taipei’s Kang. Her run ended in the semifinals against South Korea’s Ryom Hwang, yielding a bronze. Fereshteh Fathi beat Australia’s Paige Kaur before being eliminated by China’s Jian.

 

-73kg: Baran Nemati defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chen Si-yuan and China’s Sun Jiahui to reach the semifinals, where she fell in straight rounds to China’s Song Jie, settling for bronze.

 

In the -53kg category, Rouzhan Goudarzi defeated Australia’s Kristofel Tamzin, but was eliminated in the following round by Australia’s Bianca Motta.

 

Strong Showing Across the Squad

The women’s achievements follow a dominant performance by the Iranian men’s team a day earlier, where Yasin Valizadeh, Abolfazl Zandi, Mehdi Hajmousaei, Mohammad Hossein Yazdani, and Arian Salimi captured five gold medals, accompanied by two bronze medals from Amir Sina Bakhtiari and Ali Najafi.