Australia were the dominant force at the Oceania Taekwondo Championships in Fiji’s capital Suva, winning seven of the eight senior gold medals on offer at the Vodafone Arena ©Di Carn/Twitter

Australia were the dominant force at the Oceania Taekwondo Championships in Fiji’s capital Suva, winning seven of the eight senior gold medals on offer at the Vodafone Arena.

Deanna Kyriazopoulos contributed to the nation winning all four of the women’s categories thanks to success in the under-49 kilograms at the expense of compatriot Amelia Griffin.

There were also all-Australian finals in the women’s under-57kg and women’s over-67kg, with Jennifer Lay beating Catherine Risbey in the former and Tassya Stevens overcoming Kate McAdam in the latter.

New Caledonia’s Lindsay Gavin and New Zealand’s Victoria Arsain were the women’s under-57kg bronze medallists while Fiji’s Venice Traill and Australia’s Eve Ember shared third place in the women’s over-67kg.

Australia’s Lorna Munro defeated French Polynesia’s Averii Gatien in the women’s under-67kg final, with New Zealand’s Rhiannon O’Neill and Australia’s Ruth Hock completing the podium.

In men’s competition, Bailey Lewis beat fellow Australian Adrian Abela to take the under-58kg crown as French Polynesia’s Teddy Teng and New Zealand’s Jack Francois came away with the bronze medals. 

There were all-Australian clashes in the men’s under-68kg, with Thomas Afonczenko defeating Thomas Auger, and men’s under-80kg where Jack Marton overcame Camron Taylor.

The men’s under-68kg bronze medals went the way of Australia’s Damon Cavey and New Zealand’s Fraser McConnell while Fiji’s Shivneel Nagan Chetty and French Polynesia’s Hitinui Teai shared third place in the men’s under-80kg. 

The medallists show off their prizes at the end of the Championships ©WTF
The medallists show off their prizes at the end of the Championships ©WTF

The only gold medal not to go Australia’s way was that in the men’s over-80kg category as French Polynesia’s Tuarai Hery beat New Zealand’s Dafydd Sanders to secure top honours.

Australia’s Jaxon Simmonds and Adam Meyers clinched the bronze medals.

Mongolia won two of the four gold medals in the Oceania Para Taekwondo Championships courtesy of wins for Enkhtuya Khurelbaatar in the K44 women’s under-49kg and Bolor-Erdene Ganbat in the K44 men’s under-61kg.

Khurelbaatar beat Australia’s Kara Fournie in her final, while Ganbat proved too strong for compatriot Shinebayar Batbayar.

Australia’s Steven Currie beat Poland’s Damian Kubaik in the K42 men’s under-75kg final and the United States’ Corbin Stacey got the better of Poland’s Przemyslaw Wieczorek in the K44 men’s over-75kg showdown.

The only bronze medallist in the Para Taekwondo Championships was Japan’s Chikara Ito, who finished third in the K44 men’s under-61kg.