Italian
At the European Taekwondo Championships, Abderrahman Touiar wins the silver medal at just 16 years old in the -68 kg category
MUNICH (GERMANY) – Second day of competitions and second medal for Italy. At the European Championships in taekwondo taking place in Munich (Germany), just 24 hours after the bronze won by Dennis Baretta in the -68 kg category, the splendid silver by Abderrahman Touiar in the -58 kg category also arrives.
An impressive record for the sixteen-year-old blue athlete who is already the European cadet champion in Belgrade (Serbia) in 2023 and the vice-world cadet champion in Sarajevo (Bosnia), along with three medals from last year: silver at the junior World Championships in Aigle (Switzerland), bronze at the EYOF in Skopje (Macedonia), and gold at the Under 21 European Championships in Prishtina (Kosovo).
On the square of BMW Park, Touiar, who will turn 17 on August 24, has gone through the entire draw up to the final, conceding only to the experienced Belarusian Georgii Gurtsiev.
The young blue player made his debut against the Spaniard Jesus Fraile, winning 2-1 with scores of 16-13, 2-10, 16-14. In the round of 16, he faced the Serbian Lev Korneev, defeating him in two rounds (9-6, 10-3). The journey continued in the quarter-finals where he surprisingly defeated the number 1 seed, the Ukrainian Maksym Manenkov, 2-1 (11-5, 11-11, 4-4) by unanimous decision of the judges.
In the semifinals, the Greek Konstantinos Dimitropoulos fell with a score of 5-5 10-8 4-3. In the final, Touiar had no chance against the more experienced Belarusian Georgii Gurtsiev, who still had to sweat before winning in two rounds (16-13 20-18).
Photo Credits: taekwondoitalia.it/Amandine Lauriol/FITA
