Australia has won its first World Taekwondo Championships medal since 2013, with Leon Sejranovic taking home bronze in the M-74 division.
It was a tough start for Leon losing the first round of his R64 match 0-10, before lifting late to defeat his Polish opponent. A solid win in the R32 set up a clash with the top seed, two time World Champion from Spain in the R16.
Leon clinched the first round 7-6 before the Spaniard showed his class in the second, winning 0-7. The final round would be the most important of his career to date and he certainly rose to the occasion. Leon led for majority of the round and held on during the final seconds as his opponent chased points late, but the defending World Champion was out!
Leon was now fighting for a medal in the quarterfinal, dispatching his Uzbekistan opponent in just two rounds, before falling short against the eventual gold medalist from Croatia in the semi final.
Leon’s medal was the highlight of an overall successful campaign for Australia, which saw a number of athletes reach the R16 and all team members competing fiercely against world class opponents.
Many of Australia’s young guns, including Juliet Lahood, Saffron Tambyrajah and Liam Sweeney, won multiple fights before just missing out on the chance to fight for a medal.
The collective performance of this team should leave the Australian Taekwondo community excited for what’s to come, particularly with the Paris 2024 Olympics almost one year away!
Results for all 16 athletes can be found below:
Jake Buhagiar (M-54 / VIC)
R64 – Loss v Milan Molle (NED) – R1: 11-12, R2: 15-3, R3: 14-8
Bailey Lewis (M-58 / VIC)
R64 – Win v Josef Alami (SWE) – R1: 6-1, R2: 15-3
R32 – Win v Amirbek Turaev (UZB) – R1: 0-0, R2: 5-4, R3: 4-2
R16 – Loss v Adrian Vicente Yunta (ESP) – R1: 5-0, R2: 4-3
Matthew Summerfield (M-63 / WA)
R64 – Loss v Juirdo Cani (ALB) – R1: 13-11, R2: 12-14, R3: 17-16
Tom Afonczenko (M-68 / VIC)
R128 – Win v Alex Ryder (NZL) – R1: 10-2, R2: 10-2
R64 – Loss v Ho-Jun Jin (KOR) – R1: 2-0, R2: 9-3
Leon Sejranovic (M-74 / VIC)
R64 – Win v Lukasz Cudnoch (POL) – R1: 0-10, R2: 2-2, R3: 14-2
R32 – Win v Omid Sahak (AFG) – R1: 11-7, R2: 6-3
R16 – Win v Daniel Quesada Barrera (ESP) – R1: 7-6, R2: 0-7, R3: 11-9
QF – Win v Jasurbek Jaysunov (UZB) – R1: 11-7, R2: 11-10
SF – Loss v Marko Golubic (CRO) – R1: 21-4, R2: 15-9
Liam Sweeney (M-80 / QLD)
R64 – Win v Cedric Ndzouli (CAN) – R1: 3-0, R2: 6-9, R3: 6-2
R32 – Win v Apostolos Telikostoglou (GRE) – R1: 6-3, R2: 6-6
R16 – Loss v Faysal Sawadogo (BFA) – R1: 8-0, R2: 5-6, R3: 4-4
Arash Mozdeh (M-87 / VIC)
R64 – Loss v Michael Rodriguez (USA) – R1: 13-5, R2: 8-3
Adam Meyers (M87+ / VIC)
R64 – Loss v Abdoul Issoufou (NER) – R1: 9-0, R2: 11-4
Juliet Lahood (W-46 / NSW)
R64 – Win v Anita Kaminska (POL) – R1: 13-0, R2: 15-3
R32 – Win v Laura Sancho (CRI) – R1: 6-1, R2: 13-7
R16 – Loss v Rita Bakisheva (KAZ) – R1: 5-0, R2: 5-3
Saffron Tambyrajah (W-49 / VIC)
R64 – Win v Kajal Shrestha (NPL) – R1: 13-4, R2: 14-0
R32 – Win v Martina Corelli (ITA) – R1: 5-2, R2: 10-2
R16 – Loss v Panipak Wongpattanakit (THA) – R1: 18-6, R2: 11-3
Molly Park (W-53 / VIC)
R64 – Loss v Nika Karabatic (CRO) – R1: 15-3, R2: 15-3
Stacey Hymer (W-57 / VIC)
R64 – Win v Carla Tito (ECU) – R1: 11-0, R2: 13-2
R32 – Loss v Arlet Ortiz Bento (ESP) – R1: 0-0, R2: 6-5
Amber Heslop (W-62 / ACT)
R64 – Loss v Liliia Khuzina – R1: 14-2, R2: 11-0
Rebecca Murray (W-67 / QLD)
R64 – Loss v Anh Ngan Tran (VNM) – R1: 6-5, R2: 15-3
Emily Stellino (W-73 / NSW)
R32 – Loss v Polina Khan – R1: 4-2, R2: 6-3
Reba Stewart (W73+ / VIC)
R32 – Win v Rodali Barua (IND) – R1: 3-1, R2: 5-8, R3: 3-1
R16 – Loss v Nafia Kus (TUR) – R1: 7-0, R2: 7-5
*Images supplied by Molly Park
