U.S. Runs Into Stiff Competition on Day 4 of World Championships

The U.S. team drew some formidable opponents in the early rounds of Saturday's competition at the WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, and no American fighter advanced past the round of 16.

Men's middleweight Antony Graf (Miami, Fla.) opened the day with a 5-4 victory over Michael Oogink of the Netherlands and then defeated Sweden's Samir Aknouche, 9-4, to reach the round of 16. His opponent in the round of 16 was Yousef Karami, the 2003 world champion and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist from Iran. Graf went toe-to-toe with Karami for the full three rounds but the Iranian prevailed with a 4-3 win and would go on to claim the bronze medal. Turkey's Bahri Tanrikulu won the gold medal in the men's middleweight division, with Italy's Carlo Molfefetta taking the silver medal and Serbia's Vanja Babic claiming the other bronze.

Women's middleweight Dalia Avivi (Miami, Fla.) had a first-round matchup with Vietnam's Thi Ha and knew if she got by Ha that her next opponent would be world and Olympic medalist Sarah Stevenson of Great Britain, who received a first-round bye. Avivi would have liked to have a tune-up match before facing Stevenson, the 2001 world champion and three-time Olympian who also won silver at the 2005 world championships and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games.

But when Ha withdrew from the competition, Avivi would have to face Stevenson in her first match of the day in the round of 32. The veteran Brit proved to be too much for Avivi, winning 5-0, but would lose in the next round to eventual gold medalist Ying Ying Hang of China. The silver medalist in the women's middleweight division went to Korea's In-Jong Lee, and bronze medalists were Turkey's Furkan Aydin and Russia's Anastasia Baryshnikova.

Men's finweight Luis Reyes (Chatsworth, Calif.) opened his day with a 6-5 victory over Singapore's Jason Tan, but then lost to Taipei's Chia Hsu in the round of 32, by a score of 5-2. Winning the men's finweight title was Korea's Yeon-ho Choi, while Afghanistan's Mahmood Haidari took the silver and bronze medals went to Iran's Meisam Bagheri and Thailand's Chutchawai Khawiaor.

Talina Le (Woodinville, Wash.) lost her opening match in the women's finweight division, dropping a tight 1-0 contest to Venezuela's Marilym Perez. The gold medal was won by Korea's Hyo-ji Park over silver medalist Zoraida Santiago of Puerto Rico, while Thailand's Buttree Puedpong and Canada's Yvette Yong were the bronze medalists.

The world championships conclude on Sunday with the remaining U.S. fighters listed below:

Sunday, October 18
Men's under 74 kg - Mark Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas)
Women's under 62 kg - Stephanie Beckel (Miami, Fla.)
Women's over 73 kg - Lauren Cahoon (Miami, Fla.)

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