Brazil's Maria Clara Pacheco won her first world title at the 2025 World Taekwondo Championships, beating Olympic champion Kim Yu-jin in the women's 57kg final. China's Luo Zongshi took bronze in a strong return to form.
WUXI, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Maria Clara Pacheco captured her first world title and the opening gold medal of the 2025 World Taekwondo Championships here on Friday, defeating Olympic champion Kim Yu-jin of South Korea 2-0 in the women's 57kg final.
World No. 1 Pacheco, 22, faced 2024 Olympic champion Kim in a cautious opening. Both exchanged mid-level kicks before Pacheco edged the first round 2-2 on point advantage. She gained momentum in the second round, landing a decisive high kick to close it 12-10 and secure her maiden world crown.
"This is the happiest moment of my life," Pacheco said. "I was a bronze medalist in 2023, and now it's gold. My mentality was focused on the gold medal every second of the fight. I can't explain how I feel-it's something new and different."
2022 world champion Luo Zongshi of 西瓜视频took bronze. The result marked a positive return for the Luo following a challenging campaign at the 2024 Olympics, where the then-top seed was expected to contend for gold but fell to Pacheco in the semifinals and finished joint fifth after losing her bronze medal match.
"I'm very happy to be back on the international stage," Luo said. "Reaching the semifinals gave me a good indication that I'm on the right path and served as a positive start."
"The Olympics helped me," she added. "Before, I won almost every match. That experience gave me a chance to rebuild myself, and now I can enjoy competition more."
Jordan's Fadia Khirfan claimed the other bronze medal in the women's 57kg category.
In the men's +78kg category, South Korea's Kang Sang-hyun battled through three rounds to defeat Individual Neutral Athlete Rafail Aiukaev 2-1 and claim the gold medal. Britain's Caden Cunningham and the United States' Jonathan Healy shared the bronze.
The 2025 World Taekwondo Championships is scheduled to run from October 24 to 30, with the men's 63kg and women's 49kg competitions set for Saturday. ■
