News / Sports

Two Iranians named world top taekwondo fighters

Tuesday, 08 March 2016 1:07 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 08 March 2016 1:06 PM ]

Iranian taekwondo practitioner Farzan Ashourzadeh Fallah

Two members of the national Iranian men’s taekwondo team have been elected among the top-ranked athletes of the sport, thanks to their great performances at international sports events.

According to the latest rankings published by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), 19-year-old Farzan Ashourzadeh Fallah tallied 460.8 points to be named the world’s best in the minus 58-kilogram weight category.

South Korea’s 21-year-old Kim Tae-hun scored 431.84 points to land in the second place.

Rui Braganca, a representative from Portugal, claimed the third spot in this class with 296.53 points.

Iranian taekwondo practitioner Mahdi Khodabakhshi

The WTF also picked up Iran’s Mahdi Khodabakhshi, 24, as the best taekwondo fighter in the minus 80-kilogram weight section with 387.38 points.

Moldovan Aaron Cook earned 349.09 points to land in the second place, and Albert Gaun from Russia notched 268.41 points to settle for the third slot.

On September 19, 2015, Khodabakhshi, who had defeated his Tunisian, Uzbek, Armenian and Iranian rivals in his march to the final competition of the men’s minus 80-kilogram weight class at the WTF Grand Prix in Britain, brushed aside British taekwondo athlete Aaron Arthur Cook 13-11 in a stiff challenge, and grabbed the gold for Iran.

The WTF Grand Prix opened in Manchester on October 24, 2015, and concluded on October 26. A total of 237 athletes from 59 countries, including Argentina, Britain, Iran, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United States, took part in the three-day international taekwondo tournament.

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