The 23-year-old, winner of the European title in 2010, 2012 and 2014 but was controversially omitted from Britain's Olympic team for London 2012 and has switched nationality to the island off the west coast of England, was in superb form in winning the under 80kg division at the Suzhou Sports Centre.

Cook, a bronze medallist at the inaugural WTF Grand Prix in Manchester last December, came from behind to edge Russia's Albert Gaun 4-3 in the gold medal match, after earlier requiring a fourth golden-point round against France's Torann Maizeron to reach the final contest.

Maizeron did recover to win one of the two bronze medals, while the other was taken by London 2012 champion Sebastian Crismanich of Argentina.

Steven Lopez of the United States, gold medalist at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, failed to advance to the quarter-final round as he was beaten 5-4 in a round of 16 by Crismanich.

The three-day World Taekwondo Grand Prix event in Suzhou follows the success of an inaugural Grand Prix in Manchester last December ©Getty Images



There was East Asian success in the two other categories on day two in Suzhou, with Taiwanese 2013 World Championship silver medallist Chia Chia Chuang winning the women's under 67kg final, while Tae hun Kim of South Korea won the men's under 58kg division. 

Chuang got the better of another Russian opponent, in London 2012 bronze medal winner Anastasila Baryshnikova, by a 7-4 margin, after first beating home hope Hua Zhang in a nailbiting 9-8 semi-final.

Zhang did win one of the two bronze medals, along with Farida Azizova of Azerbaijan.

Kim meanwhile, the silver medalist at the 2013 Manchester Grand Prix Final, defeated Brazil's Guilherme Alves 11-8 to win under 58kg gold, while Argentina's Lucas Guzman and Australia's Safwan Khalil shared the bronze medal.

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