Home favourite Kim Tae-hun moved to within two wins of defending his men’s 54 kilograms global crown as action begun today at the World Taekwondo Championships today ©Getty Images

Home favourite Kim Tae-hun moved to within two wins of defending his men’s 54 kilograms global crown as action begun at the World Taekwondo Championships here today.

The 22-year-old, who topped the podium at the 2015 World Championships in Russian city Chelyabinsk, beat Turkey's Deniz Dagdelen 27-7 to ensure a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

He had earlier defeated Botswana's Kitso True Molaodi 15-2, Japan's Ryuta Matsui 29-3 and Great Britain's Hassan Haider 28-3.

Awaiting the 58kg Olympic bronze medallist in the penultimate round is Italy's Vito Dell'Aquila, who overcame Brazil's Adriano Alves 21-1 in the quarter-finals.

The other semi-final encounter pits Iran's Armin Hadipour Seighalani against Thailand’s Ramnarong Sawekwiharee.

Hadipour Seighalani reached the semi-finals with a 17-9 win over Belgium's Mourad Laachraoui, while Sawekwiharee did so courtesy of a 21-13 victory over second seed Cesar Rodriguez of Mexico.

Top seed Jack Woolley of Ireland was eliminated in the round of 32 by Spain’s Adrian Vicente Yunta, who went onto lose against Alves.

Vietnam's Thi Kim Tuyen Truong is through to the women's 46kg semi-finals ©Getty Images
Vietnam's Thi Kim Tuyen Truong is through to the women's 46kg semi-finals ©Getty Images

The host nation are also represented in the women’s 46kg semi-finals with fourth seed Sim Jae-Young earning her place by beating Tunisia's Fadia Farhani 15-5.

Sim’s next opponent is Colombia's Andrea Ramirez Vargas, who defeated Israel’s Michal Zrihen - the conqueror of top seed Kyriaki Kouttouki of Cyprus - 10-6 in the quarter-finals.  

The other semi-final will see Thailand’s Napaporn Charanawat go up against Vietnam's Thi Kim Tuyen Truong.

Charanawat overcame China's Liu Kaiqi 9-7 in the last eight after Truong had claimed a 15-13 victory over Indonesia's Dhean Titania Fazrin.

The finals in both categories will follow tomorrow’s semi-finals.

Preliminary-round action in the men’s 74kg and women’s 49kg categories is also scheduled for tomorrow.

Much attention throughout these Championships will be on the new rules, which are fully coming into effect for the first time. 

A series of rule changes were approved at the World Taekwondo General Assembly in Canadian city Burnaby last November in order to address a number of issues raised following the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The sport’s membership highlighted the over-use of front leg kicks and Protector Scoring System as two of the main problems.

As a result, it was agreed to implement a number of alterations, including competitors being awarded an extra point - from one to two - for kicks to the body.