The 22-year-old Briton produced an assured performance in the weight category’s final bout to beat Chinese Taipei’s Yun-Wen Huang, silver medallist at this year's World Championships in Chelyabinsk, 6-3.

Jones, who won gold at last year’s WTF Grand Prix Final in the Mexican state of Querétaro, moved into a 6-0 lead early in the third round and despite a late rally from her opponent, held on for the win.

"It always feels good to do well at the Grand Prix but it’s nice to finally win one in the series," said Jones, who suffered a controversial golden point final defeat to Iranian Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin at the previous Grand Prix in Moscow. 

"I’m always aiming to be the best of the world and if I can put in a good performance in these events, it all helps for Rio [2016].

"I’m driven to get better and better and I want another Olympic gold."

The match started with Jones, who had been looking razor-sharp in the earlier rounds, pressurising Huang backwards and forcing her to employ some evasive footwork.

Jones drew first blood with a body kick, and although she was deducted a point for holding after a scrappy edge-of-the-mat exchange, she soon racked up another to end the first round 2-0 to the good.

The lead was extended with a side kick to the torso early in round two, before Huang was dumped on the deck with another to make it 4-0, despite it failing to score on the Daedo protector and scoring system. 

Having fallen a further point behind as round two came to a close, Huang came out aggressively in the third, trying to force her opponent onto her back leg and off the mats.

But Jones was undeterred, replying with head and body shots and racking up another point with yet another strong side kick to the body.

Huang finally found an angle that bypassed Jones’ defence during a flurry on the edge of the mats, taking the score to 6-1, and then 6-2.

And despite pressuring her opponent out of the area to increase her tally to three, it ultimately proved too little too late for Huang as Jones saw out the match for gold. 

Jones' compatriot Rachelle Booth had to settle for a bronze medal, along with Sweden’s Nikita Glasnovic.

Meanwhile in the men’s under 68kg category, Russia’s Alexey Denisenko held off a strong challenge from Mexico’s Saul Gutierrez to take a 12-11 victory.

Gutierrez started the brighter of the two, setting the tempo on his way to establishing a 6-4 lead, before Denisenko switched up a gear.

A textbook step side kick that staggered Gutierrez reduced the deficit to one, and the scores were soon level at 6-6.

With his radar now firmly centred on the Mexican, Denisenko landed with a round kick to the head, putting him 9-6 ahead, and after Gutierrez was warned for holding, it was 10-6 at the end of the second round.

At the start of the third round, Gutierrez launched a crafty kick to the body then hooked his heel up to Denisenko's face to bring the board to 10-9.

Denisenko was not about to relinquish his lead though, scoring again for 11-9, after which he successfully landed a counter kick in a clinch to bring up his 12th point. 

With just 15 seconds remaining, Gutierrez upped the volume of his attack to win another point, but after his coach had had an appeal rejected, the match was in its dying moments. 

Gutierrez hurtled forward, backing Denisenko out of the ring for a point, but as combat restarted the buzzer brought an end to his bid for gold.

South Korea’s Dae-Hoon Lee lost out to Denisenko in the semi-finals, condemning him to the third step of the podium where he was joined by Iran’s Abolfazl Yaghoubijouybari.

A total of 232 athletes from 50 countries competed on the second leg of the WTF Grand Prix Series, which continues in Manchester next month before December’s final in Mexico City.



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