Despite finding himself 3-2 behind after the first round, Braganca fought back strongly to nullify his German opponent, well-known for his aggressive, spinning style, and take an 8-4 victory. 

The Portuguese looked remarkably fast as he played his front leg game in the first round, opening a two-point lead before Tuncat returned fire with a spinning back kick for three points.

Braganca soon levelled the scores at 3-3 as action recommenced, but the pace then slowed down as both men tried to feint and psyche each other out, firing off rarely-seen front-leg twisting kicks to the body protector.

Round three saw Tuncat getting visibly frustrated at not being able to get past Braganca’s front leg, held up high and constantly stabbing out with side kicks, twist kicks and push kicks.

Going for a big score, a flashing spin heel kick from the German failed to connect by a whisker before a warning took Braganca up to four points.

Throwing caution to the wind, both men upped their game and a flurry of spins ended with Braganca moving into a 5-3 lead.

The decisive moment came as both players’ coaches appealed for head kicks in the closing stages with Braganca benefiting from the replay to take the score to 8-4 and earn him top honours.

The weight category’s bronze medals went to China’s Shuai Zhao and Argentina’s Lucas Guzman.

Earlier in the women’s under 49kg final, two-time Olympic gold medallist Wu Jingyu of China got the better of Thailand’s Panipak Wongpattanakit. 

The first round was a high-scoring affair, ending 12-5 to Wu, and Wongpattanakit was in danger of going out on a 12-point difference with the score at 18-8 in the second before she picked up a point to help her cause going into the third.

The final round looked like a re-run of the first with both girls unleashing kicks aplenty, before Wu moved to within one of a 12-point difference victory by taking the score to 20-9.

Not going down without a fight, Wongpattanakit increased her points tally to 12 with a head shot but Wu continued to add points herself and the match was finally halted when Wu hit the 24-12 mark.

Russia’s Svetlana Igumenova and France’s Yasmina Aziez shared the third step of the podium.

The final of the men’s under 80kg weight class saw Iranian powerhouse Mahdi Khodabakhshi squaring off against Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cisse, who was forced to concede the match due to an injury sustained earlier in the day.  

Khodabakhshi's compatriot Masoud Hajizavareh was one of the two bronze medallists along with Italy’s Roberto Botta.

A total of 232 athletes from 50 countries are competing in the WTF Grand Prix Series 2, which is set to conclude tomorrow.



Related stories
September 2015: Russia, America and South Korea all win gold on opening day of World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 2
September 2015: Russia claim team title double at World Para-Taekwondo Championships
September 2015: Samsun all set to host World Para-Taekwondo Championships and World Taekwondo Grand Prix Series 2