On an action-packed night of four finals, the win marked a third men's gold of the week for Iran, proving enough to see them pip Russia to the men's team title, with the hosts ending the week with seven medals but not that elusive golden one.

Despite starting brilliantly with three semi-final victories, the evening ultimately proved a frustrating one for Spain as all three of their finalists were defeated after each struggling to impose themselves in their respective bouts. 

First Eva Calvo-Gomez was comfortably beaten by Japan's Mayu Hamada and then her younger sister Marta was similarly outclassed by Irem Yaman of Turkey, before Belgium's Jaoud Achab - fighting as an independent athlete - withstood a late fightback to defeat Joel Gonzalez-Bonilla.

But the most impressive performance of the night came in the finale as Khodabakhshi, the Asian Games champion who has dominated on the Grand Prix circuit this year, simply blew away Britain's former kickboxing world champion Sansum, with the bout ending due to superiority in the opening seconds of the third round.

A clinical head kick wrapped up a 16-3 win to ensure victory by points gap.

The Briton, who switched sports soon after winning a world kickboxing title in 2009, had earlier won an enthralling semi-final with former team mate Aaron Cook, the adopted Moldovan who fought back to draw things level in the final seconds of the third round before losing via a golden point period.

Khodabakhshi in comparison, was ruthless in overcoming German defending champion Tahir Guelec, racking up an unassailable lead and then repeatedly falling to the ground and retreating off the mat in the closing seconds to deny his opponent any opportunity.

With his long reach and overpowering defence, it was always going to be hard for Sansum to get any closer, but few could have expected the final to be so utterly one-sided as the Iranian scored in the opening seconds and then pressed home his advantage throughout, scoring virtually at will and not letting his opponent get anywhere close.

There has been much criticism here of fighters adopting defensive styles and offering little in the way of explosive attacks, and no one has done that better than the Iranians, but there is no denying the tactic's effectiveness and, years from now, only the results will be remembered rather than the manner of victory. 

In comparison, Belgium's Achab offered the most charismatic performance of the evening, exploding into life in the third round after a lacklustre opening to swiftly open up a winning lead.

The Moroccan-born athlete, a gold medal winner at last year's European Championships in Baku, almost let his opponent back into the fight but hung on in the final seconds for a deserved victory.

In slightly farcical scenes, he was awarded gold before the decidedly upbeat World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) anthem was played, after the Belgian National Taekwondo Union was suspended by the WTF in January due to a dispute with a rival governing body.

The two women's fights, meanwhile, took on a similar pattern as neither of the Calvo-Gomez sisters were able to impose themselves as they had during their semi-final victories.

Hamada was never threatened after taking a narrow lead in the first round while Yaman profited from an aggressive second half of her fight to take Turkey's second gold of the Championships.

South Korea finished top of the medals table with four gold medals, also scooping the women's team award, while Turkey's Servet Tazegül and Britain's Bianka Walkden received the respective male and female Most Valuable Player awards. 

Iraq received the "good fighting spirit" prize, while Swaziland received the "active participation" accolade.

A total of 10 nations won at least one gold medal, with 30 nations spanning five continents gaining podium finishes, with the next such Championships due to take place in Muju, South Korea in 2017.

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