MANCHESTER,
UK (Oct 21, 2022) – The first medals of the Manchester 2022 World Taekwondo
Grand Prix were awarded, as elite competition returned to the UK in front of a
vocal crowd at the Manchester Regional Arena. An exciting evening session of
competition combined established champions with up-and-coming talent, as
Olympic champion Panipak Wongpattanakit won the women’s 49 kg category event and newcomer Tae-Joon
Park won the men’s 58 kg.

With the
Olympic Qualification period for the taekwondo competitions of the Olympic
Games Paris 2024 now underway, athletes competed for Grand Prix standings and
also for ranking points that could see them compete at the next Olympic Games.

In the
women’s 49 kg category, Turkey’s Merve Dincel progressed to the final after
beating Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, Spain’s Adrianna Cerezo Iglesias. And
after Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand defeated
China’s Qing Guo in her own semi-final, Dincel and Wongpattanakit found
themselves reprising this year’s Paris WT Grand Prix final. As in Paris,
Wongpattanakit proved to be the superior fighter.

In the men’s
58 kg category Korea’s 18-year-old Tae-Joon Park, making his WT Grand Prix
debut, caused the upsets of the evening. Park had been invited to Manchester as
the winner of the WT Grand Prix Challenge event held in June at Muju
Taekwondowon – an initiative aimed at increasing opportunities for lower-ranked
and aspiring athletes.

He began by
defeating Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Vito Dell’Aquila of Italy in their
semi-final. In the final, Park met Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mohammed Khalil
Jendoubi. Jendoubi had defeated Jack Woolley of Ireland in his own semi-final,
despite the latter clearly benefitting from a vocal contingent of supporters.
The final proved to be a close fight. Each athlete took a round before the
outcome was settled in the final seconds of the third, with Park victorious.