Uzbekistan dominated the Belgian Open in G2 competition by claiming four (03) titles, China (02), Croatia (02) and Kazakistan (02) garnering two gold medals each. In the final count of the sixteen categories, nine (09) of the 16 gold medals went to Asia and seven (07) stayed in Europe.
Experts agree that the new regulation of the best two (02) round and a greater diversity of technical actions is giving results to countries with a recent history in the medal table, such as Kazakistan and Uzbekistan, which have very versatile competitors. China and thailand also showed their claws with high quality athletes on the mat.
Asia felt very powerful in the men’s genre where they swept seven (07) gold medals out of eight (08) in dispute.
Another point is that Asia generally competes with Kpnp systems.
The tournament held in Lommel turned out to be a small world championship with some of the main powers of Taekwondo in action. Among the stars of the tournament were four Olympic champions.
Of them, three achieved medals in Belgium; Matea Jelic (CRO) gold, Rashitov Ulugbek (UZB) gold, Wongpattanakit Panipak (THA) bronze, while Jade Jones (GB) couldn’t beat her rival from China. The Spanish Adriana Cerezo, silver in Tokyo also stood out in Lommel.
The world champions from Guadalajara, Chaari Sarah (Belgium) and Leslei Soltero (Mexico) won bronze in the competition. Liang Yushuai (China) gold winner in -63 kg emerges as a Taekwondo figure, thanks to his good taekwondo.
Of the most outstanding countries in Europe in the Olympic environment, the teams from Serbia and Italy were missing in Lommel, although they did participate in the minor categories.
Finalists Men.
In this G2 event that serves as preparation for the Baku 2023 World Cup, on the way to Paris there were exciting battles at the Lommel Arena.
In 54 kg the Greek Dimitropoulos Konstantinos, starred in a fantastic fight with Dadashov Sayyad from Azerbaijan who went home with silver.
At 58 kg the battles were epic. The category was won by Korean Bae Jun Seo, after Frenchman Ravet Cyrian retired due to injury. The semifinals between France-Spain, and Korea-Azerbaijan, were one of the most spectacular matches we witnessed at the Belgian Open this year.
At -63 kg the Chinese Liang Yushuai was a whirlwind in his fighting. The final against the French Souleyman Alaphilippe was worthy of an Olympic final. Both athletes were powerful but the Chinese was able to score at the last moment to take the victory.
In -68 kg, the Uzbek Niyaz Pulatov managed to beat the Greek Chamalidis Konstantinos in a very demanding category.
In the top -74 kg division, Olympic champion Rashitov Ulugbek demonstrated his weapons in combat by taking gold by defeating the experienced Husic Nedzad (BIH). During the event the medalist had very complicated fights.
The great team of Uzbekistan also got gold in -80 kg with their powerful athlete Salaev Shukhrat, after defeating the African Sawadogo Faysal. Salaev was very smart in his matches where he applied his speed and technique.
China returned to repeat a gold medal in men with the performance of Meng Mingkuan. The experienced player outperformed his compatriot Wu Kai in a teammates duel.
In the heavyweight it was the representative of Kazakistan Zhaparov, who won the gold medal. The Croatian Bozic Pasko was left with the silver, who had to settle for silver.
Female results
In women’s, Europe won five gold medals, with two (02) from Croatia, one (01) from Turkey, Spain (01), Hungary (01) and GB (01). The Asian athletes took two (02) from Thailand and Kazakistan, one each country.
In women, the representative of Kazakistan Bakisheva Rita took the honors in -46 kg by beating the athlete from Australia Lahood.
-49 was a very intense category. Dincel Merve had a great day defeating the Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalists. In the semifinal, the Turkish defeated the Thai Olympic champion, Wongpattanakit Panipak, in a spectacular match, and then defeated the Olympic silver medalist, Adriana Cerezo.
Karabitic Nika of Croatia took home gold in -53kg, defeating China’s Zuo Ju.
In the -57 kg division she was surprised with a spectacular victory, Luana Marton (HUN), who beat the Taiwanese Lo Chia Ling.
-62 kg, the Thai Tongchan Sasikarn took the gold medal by surprising Sadikova Feruza of Uzbekistan. The current world champion from Belgium Chaari Sarah took bronze.
Spain achieved with the powerful Cecilia Burgos the gold in -67 kg of the Open G2 of Belgium. The second place of the day was obtained by the French, Magda Wiet Henin, and the current world champion from Mexico accompanied them with bronze.
Croatia got a second gold medal with the Olympic champion, Matea Jelic. She was accompanied on the podium by the Frenchwoman, Laurin Althea.
More gold
In the end, Asia took nine (09) gold medals during their participation in the Belgian Open, distributed with seven (07) for men and two (02) for women, while athletes from Europe managed to win one (01) medal. gold in men, and six (06) to complete seven in the east duel of continents.
Male:
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