FUJAIRAH, UAE (May 14, 2025) - The biggest-ever World Taekwondo Cadet Taekwondo Championships drew to an exciting conclusion in Fujairah, with Iran and Korea finishing top of the men’s and women’s team standings respectively.
Competition on the final day saw gold medals for an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), Korea, Iran and Morocco, and was followed by the presentation of overall awards for the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships.
AIN Nikolai Sychev earned gold in the M -41kg, overcoming Dawood Fahad Al-Yusufi whose run to the final made him Oman’s first ever medallist at a World Taekwondo Championships in Kyorugi at any age level. Sychev edged Al-Yusufi 13-12 in the first round, then powered to an 18-6 victory in the second.
Thailand’s Anawin Promchana and Joshua Lepe of the USA secured the bronze medals with their runs to the semi-finals.
In the W -37kg final, Korea’s Geunmi Lee impressed with a high-scoring victory against Morocco’s Khadija Amrani, winning the two rounds 18-6 and 13-7. Chatpavee Pornchaithammakhun of Thailand and Belgium’s Alicia Badji were the bronze medallists in that weight category.
Iran’s Parsa Houshyar also scored highly to win the two rounds in the M -57kg final 13-4 and 15-6, beating Kazakhstan’s Ayatzhan Amirkhanov to gold. Azerbaijan’s Saleh Heydarov and Ukraine’s Prokhor Naboka joined the two finalists on the podium with bronze medals.
Samar Lamlih of Morocco was the final gold medallist of the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships, defeating Iran’s Ghazal Kabousi to take W -59kg gold. She clinched the two rounds 10-8 and 18-12. Bronze medals went to Chinese Taipei’s Yi-Syuan Jhuang Hsu and Serbia’s Anastasija Jerkovic.
After the conclusion of competition, individual and team awards were presented to the winners:
- Most Valuable Player Men: Christopher Andre Astorga Melgar (El Salvador, M -49kg)
- Most Valuable Player Women: Yoon Ju Oh (Korea, W -29kg)
- Men Team Standing: Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Korea
- Women Team Standing: Korea, Chinese Taipei, Morocco, Türkiye, Iran
- Best Men Team Coach: Houshyar Dindar (Iran)
- Best Women Team Coach: Eung Hyun Kim (Korea)
- Best Male Referee: Ivan Penava (Croatia)
- Best Female Referee: Daniele Soares Martins (Brazil)
- Fighting Spirit Award: Iraq
- Active Participation Award: United Arab Emirates
Fujairah 2025 was the largest edition of the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships to date, with more than 800 athletes aged 12-14 from 89 MNAs, AINs and the Refugee Team.
The next edition of the World Taekwondo Championships will be held in Athens, Greece in 2027.
