Dell’Aquila delivers glorious finale to Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix for Italy
ROME, Italy (June 7, 2026) – Italian legend Vito Dell’Aquila ensured the Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix finished with wild celebrations for the host nation after winning an exhilarating M -58kg final, following on from Russia’s Alisa Angelova clinching W -49kg gold.
Dell’Aquila has won almost everything there is to win in the sport, but had never medalled at his home World Taekwondo Grand Prix event. That changed with an incredible three-round victory against Korea’s -54kg world champion Eun Su Seo at the Foro Italico.
Angelova meanwhile overcame the challenge of Egypt’s Jana Khattab to take the other gold medal on day three.
W -49kg
The first final of the day saw Angelova, the under-21 world champion at -46kg, produce a dominant display to beat Khattab, a -53kg bronze medallist at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships.
Angelova’s agility and impressive head kicks helped her to take the first round away from her opponent and prevail 27-10.
The Egyptian athlete fought back strongly in the second round, but Angelova was not to be denied and ultimately won 21-15 to take the gold medal.
Angelova’s run to the final included an impressive three-round victory against the top seed and reigning world champion You Yun Liu of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16, while in the semi-finals she defeated Asian champion Hyang Gi Kim of Korea.
Khattab’s semi-final saw her triumph in an entertaining three-round match against Spain’s Adriana Cerezo Iglesias, whose bronze added to her gold in 2022 and silver in 2023 at the World Taekwondo Grand Prix in Rome.
M -58kg
An unbelievable M -58kg final saw Dell’Aquila complete a stirring turnaround to win gold at the expense of the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships MVP Seo.
Both athletes were fully committed to scoring, and it was Seo who had the better of the first round, eventually taking it 49-47.
Dell’Aquila, an Olympic gold medallist at Tokyo 2020 and world champion in 2022 in this weight category, hit back in the second round, which he won 34-18 to force a decider.
It was Seo who led for much of the third round, but roared on by a passionate home crowd, Dell’Aquila stayed within reach of his opponent. The noise reached a crescendo in the closing stages when the home favourite forced his way into the lead, and there were delirious and emotional scenes when he closed out a 31-26 victory to cap off the competition in Rome.
The home crowd had been fully supportive of Dell’Aquila throughout the day, helping him to overcome the Olympic champion Tae Joon Park of Korea in the quarter-finals and Ja’afar Aldaoud of Jordan in the semi-finals.
In the other half of the draw, Seo claimed an impressive victory against Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist and Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships bronze medallist Gashim Magomedov of Azerbaijan in the semi-finals.
Following the conclusion of competition, President Choue presented awards to the Roma 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix’s Best Male Referee Erdenebaatar Naranchimeg of Mongolia and Best Female Referee Paula Remirez of Spain.
The second World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series event of the year will take place in Muju, Korea from 5-7 September.
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