PARIS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Hungary's Viviana Marton captured the gold medal in the women's 67kg taekwondo competition at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Seeded 12th, the 18-year-old rising star defeated Serbia's Aleksandra Perisic, the No. 3 seed, with a convincing 2-0 victory in the final.
Marton advanced to the final after defeating Ruth Gbagbi of Cote d'Ivoire, Kristina Teachout of the United States, and Sarah Chaari of Belgium in the earlier rounds.
In the battle for bronze, Teachout, also 18, won her match against China's Song Jie by a scoreline of 2-0. Top seed Chaari of Belgium narrowly defeated Uzbekistan's Ozoda Sobirjonova 2-1 after a closely fought contest.
Host nation France had high hopes for fourth-seeded Magda Wiet-Henin, the reigning world champion, but she fell to Teachout's relentless pressure in the round of 16, ending her gold medal aspirations.
France's coach, Rosendo Alonso Tapia, reflected on the loss, noted that Wiet-Henin struggled to maintain her precision and control under the intensity of the match.
Veteran Olympian Gbagbi, competing in her fourth Games, exited without a medal after being eliminated in the repechage. Gbagbi indicated her intention to compete in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
In the men's 80kg category, Tunisia celebrated its first gold medal of the Paris Games, with Firas Katoussi triumphing in a 2-0 victory over Iran's Mehran Barkhordari in the final.
Katoussi's journey to the top included wins over Australia's Leon Sejranovic, Denmark's Edi Hrnic, and second seed CJ Nickolas of the United States.
Bronze medals in the men's event went to Italy's top seed and two-time world champion, Simone Alessio, and Hrnic, who made history as the first Danish athlete to compete in Olympic taekwondo in nearly two decades.
The taekwondo competition, which began on August 7, will conclude on Saturday with the men's +80kg and women's +67kg divisions.
