Wuxi is in power: how did the Russian national taekwondo team perform at the World Championships

The 27th World Taekwondo Championships ended in the Chinese city of Wuxi on October 30. Russian and Belarusian athletes competed at the tournament under a neutral flag and showed decent results, winning five medals, three of which were silver and two were bronze. In the unofficial medal standings, the Russians took 11th place.

Three plus one

The Russian team at the World Championships included 16 athletes — eight men and eight women. Among men, these are Dmitry Balakhneev (up to 54 kg), Idar Bagov (up to 58 kg), Maxim Osin (up to 68 kg), Amir Vykov (up to 68 kg), Magomed Abdusalamov (up to 74 kg), Artyom Mytarev (up to 80 kg), Rafael Kamalov (up to 87 kg) and Rafail Ayukaev (over 87 kg). Three of them leave China with medals.

Magomed Abdusalamov took the bronze medal in the category up to 74 kg. In the quarterfinals, he defeated American Victor Rodriguez, and in the semifinals he lost to Uzbek national Nazhmiddin Kosimhodzhiev. In the early stages, Magomed passed Surinamese Samaki Pinas, Belarusian Artyom Babakhin and Togolese Ibrahim Mamuda. The Russian shared the bronze medal with the Iranian Amir Bakhtiari.

In the category up to 80 kg, Artyom Mytarev climbed the podium. In the tournament bracket, he passed Czech Adam Johman, Ukrainian Kirill Gurnov, Croatian Oscar Kovacic and Chilean Hokain Churchill. In the semifinals, Mytarev lost to Brazilian Enrique Marquez, who eventually became world champion.

Rafail Ayukaev won the silver medal in the heavyweight division. The Russian defeated Turkey's Emre Ateshli, Australia's Aiden Stilley, Ukraine's Andrey Garbar and Britain's Caden Cunningham. In the final, Ayukaev lost to the representative of South Korea, Kang Sang Hyun.

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Notably, Georgy Gurtsiev, a native of Vladikavkaz, who has been playing for Belarus since 2022, also won silver. In the final of the 58 kg weight category, he lost to Iranian Abolfazl Zandi, having previously defeated Nepalese Sumit Bista, Georgian Vitaly Geladze, Pan Kay-an from Chinese Taipei, representative of Niger Nuriddin Issaka and Azerbaijani Hashim Magomedov. For the 25‑year—old taekwondo practitioner, this is the second silver medal of the World Championship - in 2023, Gurtsiev took second place at the tournament in Baku.

Heading for Kazakhstan

The Russian women's World Cup team includes Milana Bekulova (up to 46 kg), Galina Medvedeva (up to 49 kg), Anastasia Subbotina (up to 53 kg), Margarita Bliznyakova (up to 57 kg), Lilia Khuzina (up to 62 kg), Victoria Zheleznova (up to 67 kg), Anastasia Kosmycheva (up to 73 kg) and Linara Muslimova (over 73 kg).

Of the eight girls, only Bekulova reached the medals. In the category up to 46 kg, she defeated Korean Lee Ye Ji, Thai Patcharakan Poulkerd, Moroccan Farou Touzani and Chinese Wang Siyi. In the final, Milan lost to Turkish Emin Gojebakan.

Thus, Russia took 11th place in the overall medal standings with two silver and two bronze medals. The Turkish team topped the overall standings (3-2-1), athletes from South Korea came in second place (2-2-2), and Brazil closed the top three (2-2-0).

The next Taekwondo World Cup 2027 will be held in Kazakhstan. This decision was made during the 2025 World Cup at a meeting of the World Taekwondo Federation. It should be recalled that in August of this year, World Taekwondo President Cho Zhongwon visited Astana and presented Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with an honorary ninth dan black belt, the highest degree in taekwondo. After that, Tokayev left an autograph on the training board, and then smashed it with a punch.