Great Britain, Sweden, Chinese Taipei Grab 1 Gold Medal Each on 2nd Day of 2013 WTF Grand Prix Final in Manchester

Host Great Britain, Sweden and Chinese Taipei clinched one gold medal each on the second day of the inaugural 2013 WTF World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final in Manchester, the United Kingdom on 14 December, 2013.

Great Britain's Lutalo Mustafa Muhammad, the bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, needed a fourth golden-point round to grab the gold medal in the men's -80kg category against Russia's Albert Gaun.

After three rounds of competition at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, Muhammad and Gaun were drawn to a 2-2 score and his left-foot attack to the body of Gaun in the fourth sudden-death round earned him the top honors, thrilling the home fans.

In the division, Turkey's Yunus Sari and the Isle of Man's Aaron Cook shared the bronze medal.

"It was a nearly close match and it was a fantastic fight. I am happy to be the golden-point winner at the 1st Grand Prix event," Muhammad said after the victory ceremony.
Muhammad, who started taekwondo at the age of 3, said, "I wanted to come out today at the home ground and I proved that I can do." The 22-year-old Muhammad said he wouldl compete at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and beyond.

In the men's -58kg final match, Chinese Taipei's Chen-Yang Wei brushed aside a stiff challenge from Korea's Tae-hun Kim to beat Kim 6-5 for the gold medal.
Wei, the bronze medalist in the men's -58kg division at the 2013 Puebla World Championships and the bronze medalist in the men's -63kg at the 2011 Gyeongju World Championships, advanced to the final match by defeating Mexico's Damian Alejandro Villa Valadez 2-0 in a semifinal match.

In the division, the bronze went to Mexico's Villa Valadez and Iran's Hadi Mostean Loron.
In the women's -67kg division, Sweden's Elin Maria Katarina Johansson easily beat Chinese Taipei's Chia Chia Chuang 9-2 to earn her country the first gold medal at the inaugural Grand Prix event.

Johansson, the US Open champion, reached the final match as she beat Russia's Anastasiia Baryshnikova 2-0 in a semifinal match.

France's Haby Niare and Russia's Baryshnikova shared the bronze medal in the same category.

Besides final matches, the quarterfinal match between the Isle of Man's Aaron Cook and Steven Lopez of the United States drew a special interest from both the public and international media, in which Cook came from behind to equalize the score at 9-9 at the end of the third round. In a fourth golden-point round, Cook successfully delivered a turning kick to the body of Lopez to advance to the semifinal round.

The third and final day of competition, on 15 December, features two weight categories: the women's -57kg and the men's -68kg.
 

[MOOKAS GLOBAL = Manchester | Hye-Jin, HAN]