ABU GHAUSH STARS FOR TEAM JORDAN AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

 Olympic champion Ahmad Abu Ghaush will return home as Jordan’s only medallist at the World Taekwondo Championships held in Muju, South Korea.

Abu Ghaush settled for bronze in the -68kg category after a narrow semi-final defeat against Jinyu Wang of Chinese Taipei.

His coach Faris Al Assaf said: “Our target was to be on the podium so we can be happy with what was achieved.

“This was our first official participation since the Rio Olympics last year and Ahmad missed a month of training in the spring due to injury, so we are satisfied.”

Abu Ghaush was the only Arab athlete to win a medal at the Championships and he will now continue preparing for a Grand Prix event in Russia from August 4-6, followed by an event in Morocco.

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Abu Ghaush’s teammates who didn’t make it beyond the second round.

Juliana Al Sadeq lost her first round match to German, Vanecsia Corendl, 6-5, and Taleen Al Humaidi lost in the second round to Serbia’s Tejana Bojadnove.

Wa’ed Al Turman also missed out after losing to the USA’s Jacki Galawe 8-4 in the second round having received a walkover in the first round.

Hamzeh Qattan lost in the second round of the +87kg to the USA’s Stephen Lambdin having beaten Algeria’s Mohcene Boukercha in his opening contest.

Mohammad Asfour beat Japan’s Issei Hamada 22-20 in a dramatic opening match but then tasted defeat against Belgium’s Jaouad Achab in the second round of the -63kg weight.

Anas Al Adarbeh lost in round two of the -74kg to Serbia’s Damir Fegizik, 3-2.

The World Championships welcomed over 1000 athletes from 170 countries.