Pakistan bags 2 golds in 7th Fujuriah Open International Taekwondo Championship
Pakistan's taekwondo squad bags 1 gold and 3 bronze medals in the 7th Fujuriah Open International Taekwondo Championship that is in progress till February 19 in Fujuriah, UAE.
On the very first day of this G-1 World Taekwondo event Pakistani young athletes performed exceptionally well by grabbing two Gold and three Bronzes medals in which the very first one was bagged by Sinan Ashfaq as he gave Pakistan first gold medal by beating his Egyptian opponent Mohammed Aly in the 65 KG weight category U-14 final.
Then it was the 8 year old from Swat, Ayesha Ayaz who is debuting in an international event, got her first Bronze medal as in the semi-finals of the -27 KG weight category she could not beat host nation's Syeda Mariam, losing by 6-9 and had to settle for bronze medal.
The other two taekwondo players, Arif and Saad got bronze medals in -28 KG and -49 KG weight categories respectively.
On the second day of the event, Danish gave Pakistan another Gold medal in -78 kg category against Kuwait athlete by 28 - 0 and Taimoor in +78 KG weight category lost the final against his Saudi opponent by 4-14 and settled for a Silver medal.
Pakistan Taekwondo Federation President, Lt Col (R) Wasim Ahmed Janjua said that it would be highly impossible for other athletes to stand even outside chances of beating Danish as he is not only well-built but also was going through intense training for last several months. He said It was a sure-shot gold medal for Danish and Pakistan but frankly he was not expecting such demolition of much-superior Kuwaiti athlete at the hands of Danish.
Pakistan’s arguably most bright future medal prospect Haroon Khan from Quetta made history as the youngster stunned world number 6, Khuzestan’s Sheikenov Aituar 29-28 in the -58 KG Heavyweight category. There are 37 top athletes in this weight category and Haroon is aiming to win gold medal for Pakistan to which he will now face Halawani Zaid of Jordan, who is also world class fighter and defending champion of this category.
Earlier, Haroon hammered Saudi 35-4 in the first round fight, while Pakistan’s Akram Qadeer thrashed Indian Abhimanyi in +87 KG weight category.
