The closest contest on the opening day at the Daulet Sporting Complex in the Kazakhstan capital came in the men's over 80 kilogram class.

Frenchman M'bar N'Diaye and Mahama Abdoufatah Cho of Britain matched each other throughout their match-up and were locked together at 2-2 a after three rounds.

The contest went into a fourth golden-point round and it was N'Diaye who prevailed to take the gold and a winner's cheque for $5,000 (£3,000/€3,800).

Belarusian Arman Marshall Silla and Uzbekistan's Jasur Baykuziyev secured the bronze medals.

It was a different story in the second of today's women's finals as Jacqueline Rose Galloway Sanchez proved much too strong for China's Donghua Li.

The American stormed to a 5-0 win to take the gold in the over 67kg class.

The bronze medals went to South Korea's In-jong Lee and Spaniard Rosana Simon Alamo.

The first final in Astana was another close affair betweenn Lucija Zaninovic of Croatia and South Korean Jaeah Kim in the under 49kg category.

It was the Croatian London 2012 bronze medallist who eventually emerged with the victory in a low-scoring contest winning gold after securing a 1-0 win.

Chinese Taipei's Lin Wan-Ting and Ukraine's Ganna Soroka took home the bronze medals.

London 2012 bronze medal winner of Lucija Zaninovic of Croatia (left) proved too strong for South Korean Jaeah Kim to take gold in Astana ©WTF



Prior to the action getting underway in the Daulet Sporting Complex,  WTF President Chungwon Choue was joined at the official Opening Ceremony by Kazakhstan's Minister for Culture and Sport, Arystanbek Muhamediuly, South Korean Ambassador to Kazakhstan Joohyeon Baik and Kazakhstan Taekwondo Federation President Kim Vyacheslav.

A total of 206 athletes from 50 countries are competing for medals at the event, part of the WTF Grand Prix Series.

Suzhou in hina hosted the first tournament last month and following Astana, Manchester will host the third event next month before the Series final is due to take place in Querétaro, Mexico, in December.

On the second of three days of action in Astana, tomorrow will see the medallists in the women's under 67kg and the men's under 58kg and under 80kg categories decided.

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