The first winners of the Online World Taekwondo Poomsae Open Challenge have been revealed ©World Taekwondo

Six countries claimed gold medals as the inaugural Online World Taekwondo Poomsae Open Challenge reached its conclusion.

The new virtual event followed on from November's World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, which were held online for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue said the Open Challenge was created to "provide more opportunities for people to compete in taekwondo."

Ninety-nine teams and 159 athletes took part in the first event in total, with South Korea winning golds in the male individual national team and male individual freestyle classes.

In the women's events Iran were the strongest, winning the female individual and female individual freestyle divisions.

Family events are part of the virtual poomsae competition ©World Taekwondo
Family events are part of the virtual poomsae competition ©World Taekwondo

Both South Korea and Iran also won golds in open competitions, along with Thailand, United States, Spain and Italy.

The finals were shown on YouTube with those who progressed from the semi-finals joined by 12 teams which won medals at last year's World Championships.

Thirty-five athletes represented the US - the most of any country - with Iran fielding 21 athletes, South Korea and Thailand picking 13 and Spain and Mexico selecting seven.

Further Open Challenge events are now planned for June and September before a Grand Final in December.