The number-one ranked player in the men’s -80kg division Khodabakhshi easily subdued Miguel Ferrera Rodriguez of Honduras by technical fall in Round of 16 held on Friday evening Tehran local time.
The Iranian taekwondo practitioner, nicknamed as ‘The Terminator’, had to face Milad Beigi of Azerbaijan in the quarterfinals.
Khodabakhshi’s fight against Beigi turned out to be a serious and eye-catching one since the two sides possessed a good knowledge of each other’s performance.
It was the Azerbaijani rival who bagged three points half way the first set. The Persian side secured one point early in the second set while he performed further techniques to the lead 5-3.
However, Beigi better took advantage of opportunities later into the match and gained successive points in order to defeat the Iranian champion 17-5 even before set number three was over.
Now in the second chance group, Khodabakhshi had to wait for results of Beigi’s encounter against the British taekwondo practitioner Lutalo Muhammad.
However, the Iranian’s hopes to reach the bronze medal match were shattered after the Azerbaijani contestant was thrashed by Muhammad of Britain 7-12.
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