Iran, Korea Clinch Men's and Women's Title of 2010 World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships

Iran and Korea showed its supremacy in taekwondo as they grabbed the men’s and women’s title, respectively, at the 2010 WTF World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships, which wrapped up on July 20, 2010 after four days of competition in Urumqi, China.

The World Cup event, which took place at the Xinjiang Sports Center Gymnasium, drew 19 male and 20 female teams from 23 countries. All the invited teams fielded four athletes each.

In the men’s final team competition, Iran beat Spain 3-1 to clinch the gold medal. Turkey and Korea shared the bronze medal in the men’s division.

In the women’s division, Korea came from behind to grab the gold medal, while China had to settle for the silver. Korean Wang Hae-ree brushed aside a stiff challenge of China’s Lei Jie in the fifth round of the fifth match to earn her country the gold medal.

The bronze in the women’s division went to Thailand and Turkey.

Electronic body protectors and an instant video replay system were used at the World Cup event. No protests were lodged during the four days of competition.

All the competitions were conducted in a very orderly, dynamic atmosphere. The three days of preliminaries were conducted in a round-robin format, while the final day of competition was conducted in a single elimination format.

Korea’s Hwang Kyung-seon was chosen as the female Most Valuable Player of the event, while Iran’s Mohammed Motamed became the male Most Valuable Player.

The Good Fighting Spirit Awards went to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Great Britain. Tunisia, Egypt and Azerbaijan won Active Participation Prizes.

The Best Referee Awards went to Mr. Mohammed Bin Ishag of the United Arab Emirates, Mr. Si Liang of China and Ms. Julie Georges Dib.

Iran’s Reza Mehmandoust earned the male Best Coach Award, while Korea’s Park Eun-sun won the female Best Coach Award.

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