Competing at -87kg weight category on Friday, Mahdi Khodabakhsh gained three successive wins on route to the semifinals where he failed to prevail over Daniel Ros Gomez of Spain standing on the third podium.
The Iranian athlete had begun career by subduing the Russian taekwondo practitioners 3-2 before he overwhelmed Mehmet Sari of Turkey 2-0.
Later in the quarterfinals, Khodabakhsh had beaten Tunisia’s Yassin Trabelsi, African Championships medalist and holder of Rio Olympics quota.
The Iranian outfit present at the event comprises of three taekwondo practitioners as Sajjad Mardani will face rivals on Sunday.
Iran’s first representative, Farzan Ashurzadeh at -63kg weight category dropped out of the competitions after losing to rivals in the first round on Friday.
World Taekwondo President’s Cup is underway in the Bonn’s Telekom Dome in Germany from April 7-10 and has attracted more than 1,500 athletes.
The competition is organized by the European Taekwondo Union and will see athletes compete in 18 weight categories across three age divisions – cadet, junior and senior.
HA/3593424
Your Comment