Jordan’s Abu Ghaush wins World Championship silver medal

AMMAN — Olympic champion Ahmad Abu Ghaush has won a silver medal at the World Taekwondo Championships being held in Manchester, England, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The 2016 Rio gold medallist performed superbly on Friday by winning five fights to reach Saturday night’s final, where he faced Italy’s Simone Alessio in the -74kg final.

The Italian took a commanding 6-1 lead in the first round and extended it to 14-7 in the second, and despite a big effort from Abu Ghaush in the final round he eventually lost 18-11 to settle for silver.

Abu Ghaush opened his account on Friday with a comfortable win over Slovakian Giovanni Slanec before a dazzling performance saw off Greek fighter, Georgios Roditis.

Next up was World No. 2 and Asian Games gold medallist Nikita Rafalovic, who provided a stern challenge, but Abu Ghaush edged through 18-16 to reach the quarter-final where he beat Turkey’s Baris Dag for a place in the last four and a guaranteed bronze medal.

But the determined Jordanian was not done, yet, and he ensured that he returned Saturday night to fight for gold by defeating Kazakhstan’s Kairat Sarymsakov in the semifinal. However, he found the impressive Alessio a step too far, but his silver is one better than the bronze he won two years ago at the same event.