The first gold medals were awarded at the World Championships in Bangkok with titles in the under-23 category up for grabs ©IFMA

Saudi Arabia's Hattan Alsaif won the country's first-ever gold medal at the International Federation of Muaythai Associations World Championships as under-23 finals were held in Bangkok.

Alsaidf won in the women's under-45 kilograms division against Russia's Elizaveta Zavarzina, who competed at the Thai capital's Central World Convention Hall as an independent neutral athlete.

Other women's winners included Morocco's Kaltoum Akhlouf at under-48kg, after her win over Luong Nguyen Thi Hien from Vietnam.

Siada Lahmidi was another Moroccan winner as she saw off Australia's Nicole Lowe-Tarbert at under-67kg.

Vietnam also missed out at under-54kg as Dung Nguyen Thi lost to Sweden's Vilda Ekhorn.

But Nguyen Thi Phuong Hau took revenge for the country by beating Swede Antonia Drevenlid to the under-60kg gold.

Vietnam celebrated again at under-75kg thanks to Tyut Tran Thi Anh's win over Ghada Mobarak of Egypt.

There was a history-making first women's gold for the United Arab Emirates after Zineb Bouthmada beat Matilde Rodrigues of Portugal at under-57kg.

Malaysia celebrated gold at under-51kg as Amisha Binti Azrilrizal beat Fatemeh Mamani of Iran.

Iuliia Shokhina, another neutral athlete, won under-71kg gold over Morocco's Soumia Toulaoui.

A number of weight divisions were contested at the event in the Thai capital ©IFMA
A number of weight divisions were contested at the event in the Thai capital ©IFMA

Neutral athletes enjoyed a good day in the men's events with Mazhid Temaev beating Basta Abdelmouneme of Algeria at under-60kg.

Maksim Miasnikov beat Ibrahem Bilal of the United Arab Emirates in the under-63.5kg and Aleksandr Ulianitskii was too strong for Xodjaev Raxmatjon Raximovich of Uzbekistan at under-75kg.

There was also victory for Malaysia's Mohmmad Rifdean Bin Masdor who defeated Daler Sobirov of Uzbekistan at under-51kg.

Uzbekistan did get some joy thanks to Zubayr Husanov winning at under-54kg over Malaysia's Muhammad Fadzmi Aiman Mohd Fadzli.

France's Abdelkarim Idir beat Joel Colaço of Portugal at under-57kg but fellow Frenchman Ilan Rachid lost to Sweden's Dalian Dawody at under-71kg.

At under-81kg, Kazakhstan's Alexandr Tsarikov beat Andy Kiecker of the United States and Huxley Martin also missed out for the Americans as he lost to Palestine's Ahmad Bilal at under-86kg.

The UAE earned a gold when Mohammed Mardi beat neutral athlete Sergei Solovev at under-67kg and Moroccan Boudik Ibrahim beat Ahmed Nasef of Egypt at under-91kg.

In the over-91kg division, Algeria's Mammeri Cherif Wail got the better of Baling Ladover of Hungary.

The senior finals are due to be held tomorrow.