TEHRAN – Three Iranian athletes claimed medals at the Wuxi 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series on Sunday.

Iran’s Arian Salimi won a gold by beating Emre Kutalmis Atesli of Turkey in the men’s +80kg.

Salimi began the match very strongly recording a 12-1 victory in the opening round. In the second round Atesli was able to land more points and a late head kick brought the score within 2 but it was not enough and Salimi won 12-10 to take the gold. Sanghyun Kang from Korea beat China’s Zhaoxiang Song 2:0 to win bronze.

The men’s -68kg was a very close and tightly fought match. The first round set the tone as Danial Bozorgi of Iran claimed victory with just a few seconds remaining to win 5-3. There was little to choose between the fighters in the second round but this time it was Ulugbek Rashitov of Uzbekistan who edged it winning the round 7-6. In the final round it looked like Bozorgi would take the gold as he was 5-1 up with 10 seconds to go but a dramatic final flurry saw Rashitov win the round 6-6 win by final score.

Reza Kalhor got Iran another medal as he beat Jaegwon Kang of Korea in the bronze medal match.