Dae-hoon Lee was among the winners of the second leg of the new event ©World Taekwondo

South Korea's three-time reigning world champion Lee Dae-Hoon and Ivory Coast's Ruth Gbagbi each enjoyed victories as the World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series continued in Wuxi in China today.

Lee, the World Taekwondo male "player of the year" in 2017, lived up to his favourite tag in the under-68 kilograms division by defeating Zhao Shuai of China, 53-14, in the final.

Zhao was moving up the weight divisions after winning in the under-58kg category at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Russia's Alexey Denisenko took third place after beating Mirhashem Hosseini, of Iran, by a far narrower margin of 15-14.

Third-seed and reigning Olympic bronze medallist Gbagbi was a less expected winner in the women's under-67kg division.

She prevailed against China's Guo Yunfei, 10-6.

Olympic champion and top seed Oh Hye-ri, of South Korea, was beaten by Guo but recovered to defeat another home fighter, Mengyu Zhang, 32-16 in the bronze medal match.

The Grand Slam Champions Series aims to professionalise and upgrade taekwondo's commercial appeal and media profile.

Ruth Gbagbi, right, won the women's competition in Wuxi ©World Taekwondo
Ruth Gbagbi, right, won the women's competition in Wuxi ©World Taekwondo

Unveiled and approved by the World Taekwondo Council in Muju last year, the series is invitational and brings together 12 premier athletes in each weight category.

The first two weight categories, the men's under-80kg and women's under-67kg, took centre stage last Saturday (December 30).

The other four weight categories will be spread evenly across the next two Saturdays.

"The second weekend of this year's Grand Slam series was a huge success," said World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue.

"As we continue to tell the stories of elite players through this highly competitive event, we are also creating a more media-friendly, spectator-centric sport. 

"There were some amazing performances today, with a number of stars born.

"I look forward with great anticipation to the next two editions in the coming weeks, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the impeccable Wuxi Organising Committee for its hard work and dedication in hosting this event."