Great athletes in any sport are best defined by a sheer refusal to accept defeat, to somehow find a way to win whatever the odds, and, despite his tender years, the 18-year-old did exactly that in his semi-final against Russian hope Ruslan Poiseev.

The 2014 Asian Games and Asian Championships gold medal winner trailed 11-5 with barely 30 seconds left, when, despite facing a partisan home crowd as well as a seemingly insurmountable opponent, he abandoned any restraint with a devastating array of kicks to close the arrears.

With two seconds left, he brought the scores level as the Arena went quiet, before gaining the decisive score in the subsequent golden point period to ensure the opening night of action here contained no Russian finalists.

He then translated never-say-die qualities into ruthless professionalism in the final against Belgium's Si Mohamed Ketbi, who was competing as an independent athlete after the Belgian National Taekwondo Union was suspended by the WTF in January due to a dispute with a rival governing body.

After gaining an early lead, Ashourzadeh never allowed his opponent back into the fight, controlling the contest by blending a strong defence with frequent scoring shots. 

Using all his experience from the semi-final, he held his nerve in the final round to triumph 8-3 and claim his country's 12th all time World Championship title, continuing a run of Iran have won at least one men's gold at every event stretching back to the 2007 edition in Beijing.

Poiseev had to be content with one of the two bronze medals on offer tonight, the first of surely many Russian podium finishes here this week, while the second bronze was claimed by Zhou Shuai of China.

On an evening of Asian success, Thailand's Wongpattanakit was a far less comfortable winner, triumphing only be virtue of having registered more impacts during a scoreless golden point period at the end of her final bout with Ukraine's Iryna Romoldanova.

The Thai fighter, who at just 17 years of age won gold at last Summer's Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, led 4-3 and 5-4 against a resilient opponent before being forced into extra-time, but finished brilliantly before receiving her medal from WTF President Chungwon Choue. 

She was rewarded for being the more aggressive of the two, with Romoldanova qualifying for the final match after winning a turgid last four clash with Taiwan's Lin Wan-ting in which no points were registered for six-and-a-half minutes before she managed the decisive golden point.

Romoldanova secured Ukraine's first ever World Championship medal with silver, while Lin, along with Iris Tang-sing of Brazil, had to be content with the two bronzes.

On a night which showcased both attacking, explosive taekwondo, and more patient, tactical play, the only slight disappointment were the number of empty seats which remained despite the session having been promoted as a sell-out.

But the crowd were loud and engaged throughout and will surely have more to cheer tomorrow, with Russian fighters having qualified for the semi-finals in both the men's under 74kg and women's under 49kg categories.

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