China’s Xiaolu Fu captured her first World Taekwondo Grand Prix medal, while Korea’s Jun Seo Bae defeated Olympic champion Tae Joon Park in a dramatic all-Korean final on the opening day at Muju Taekwondowon.

Xiaolu Fu prevailed in the women’s -49kg division before Jun Seo Bae delivered the home victory in the men’s -58kg category.

Xiaolu Fu celebrates first Grand Prix title

Fu, a bronze medallist at the Wuxi 2025 World Taekwondo Championships, reached the top of a Grand Prix podium for the first time after defeating reigning world champion You Yun Liu of Chinese Taipei in the final.

Neither athlete scored during the opening round, which went to Fu on superiority. The Chinese representative then controlled the second round and secured the gold medal with a 5-0 victory.

Earlier, Fu recorded an important win over Egypt’s Jana Khattab, the Wuxi 2025 World Championship bronze medallist at -53kg and Rome 2026 Grand Prix silver medallist at -49kg.

Fu recovered from losing the opening round of her semi-final against compatriot Jingyue Ma to advance to the decisive match. Ma and Kazakhstan’s Aidana Kumartayeva completed the podium with bronze medals.

Women’s -49kg

• Gold: Xiaolu Fu — China
• Silver: You Yun Liu — Chinese Taipei
• Bronze: Jingyue Ma — China
• Bronze: Aidana Kumartayeva — Kazakhstan

Jun Seo Bae defeats Olympic champion in dramatic final

The men’s -58kg final produced an all-Korean battle between Jun Seo Bae and reigning Olympic champion Tae Joon Park.

Bae, a two-time world champion, qualified for the Grand Prix after winning the 2025 Grand Prix Challenge at the same venue. He repeated his success in Muju after completing a comeback against Park.

Park took the opening round 15-9, but Bae responded with a 7-2 victory in the second. The Olympic champion appeared close to securing the title in the decisive round before Bae turned the contest around in the final moments to win 14-13.

Bae had previously defeated Korea’s Eun Su Seo in the semi-finals. Seo is the reigning -54kg world champion and earned silver in the -58kg division at the Rome 2026 Grand Prix.

InIn the opposite half of the draw, Park came from behind to overcome Italy’s Vito Dell’Aquila, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and winner of the Rome 2026 Grand Prix.

Men’s -58kg

• Gold: Jun Seo Bae — Korea
• Silver: Tae Joon Park — Korea
• Bronze: Eun Su Seo — Korea
• Bronze: Vito Dell’Aquila — Italy

The Muju Taekwondowon 2026 World Taekwondo Grand Prix continues with competition in the women’s -57kg and -67kg divisions and the men’s -80kg category.

Source: World Taekwondo

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