In front of an enthusiastic crowd, the 22-year-old secured gold with little trouble as she had too much class for her opponent.

Oognik was a surprise finalist after overcoming the more fancied Asena Aydin of Turkey in her semi-final, while Mandic needed a golden point win to get passed South Korean Injong Lee.

But that tight battle appeared to sharpen the Serbian's senses as she quickly settled into her rhythm against Oognik, picking her off with some crisp kicks to the body.

The woman from The Netherlands never really looked like she was going to land any telling blows and despite the score being just 2-1 to Mandic after two rounds, the Serb unleashed a couple of superb kicks to rack up five quick-fire points and take the win 7-4.

The second final of the night was a much more tighter affair as world number three Anastasia Baryshnikova of Russia took on world number four Elin Johansson of Sweden in the women's under 67kg division.

Reigning European champion Baryshnikova was looking to complete the medal set after taking bronze and silver already at the first two Grand Prix events of the year in Suzhou, China, and Kazakhstan capital Astana.

The 23-year-old had seen off the challenge of Turkey's Nur Tatar in the semi-final, while Johansson had overcome Farida Azizova.

The Swede was looking to make it back-to-back wins here in Manchester after winning the inaugural event last year.

As the world rankings suggested there was nothing to separate both athletes with the score at 1-1 after two cagey rounds.

But midway through the third round Baryshnikova exploded with a superb high kick to the head which earned her three precious points as well as a huge cheer from the vociferous Russian voices in the crowd.

The defending champion quickly tagged back one point with a sharp kick to the body but the Russian countered with a quick point of her own and had done enough to clinch the title with a 5-2 win.

Sweden's Elin Johansson (left) was unable to retain her title at the Manchester Grand Prix tonight as she lost out to Anastasia Baryshnikova of Russia ©Getty Images



The low-scoring trend continued into the last final of the night which saw reigning Asian champion Jasur Baykusiev of Uzbekistan up against Germany's European Championship bronze medal winner Volker Wodzich in the men's over 80kg final.

World number eight Baykusiev dispatched Iranian Sajjad Mardani in comfortable fashion in the semi-final while the rangy Wodzich came through his clash with Belorussian Arman-Marshall Silla by a single point.

It was the German who quickly gained an early advantage with a sweet kick to the torso of Baykusiev.

For the rest of the first round and the next, the Uzbekh struggled to get any meaningful shots on his much taller opponent, who was keeping the attacks at bay.

But, with just less than a minute to go, Baykusiev's persistence paid dividends as he slipped under the radar of his opponent to land a scoring kick and draw the match level at 1-1.

As the seconds ticked by it appeared that the gold medal would be decided by a golden point.

Wodzich had other ideas, though, as the drama ramped up.

The rangy German, Volker Wodzich proved the dominant force in the men's over 80kg in Manchester tonight ©Getty Images



With just three seconds on the clock, the big German showed an impressive fleet-of-foot as he launched a last-ditch swivel kick that appeared to catch Baykusievflush flush on the head.

The clock was stopped as the judges quickly confided and with the rules stating that at least two of the judges had to agree that the kick had landed there was a tense moment in the arena.

However, the decision was given to Wodzich along with two points and with just three seconds left there was little that the Uzbekh could do to affect the outcome.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]