TEHRAN – Hamed Haghshenas from Iran claimed a gold medal in the 2021 World Para Taekwondo Championships on Sunday.

He defeated Croatia’s Ivan Mikulic in the golden round of the +80kg K44 final match.

Mahtab Nabavi had won Iran’s first gold in the competition in Istanbul, Turkey in the women’s -57kg K41 category.

The event will offer athletes major rankings points in their bids to qualify for Paris 2024.

The competition brought 264 athletes from 41 nations together in Istanbul, Turkey.

It is the third time Turkey is hosting Para Taekwondo’s biggest event, following the Samsun 2015 and Antalya 2019.

Istanbul 2021 has become the second-biggest Para Taekwondo event of all-time. The 2019 World Championships featured 333 athletes from 66 countries, although the event included the Poomsae discipline – which will not be included at Istanbul 2021.

Due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, at least four teams namely, Afghanistan, Ghana, Japan, and Morocco withdrew from the competition.