Russia, one of the world powers in taekwondo, will be looking confidently to 18-year-old Elizaveta Ryadninskaya to maintain success in the women’s 49 kilograms category in years to come.

Ryadninskaya announced herself as a world-class junior competitor in winning the 2017 European junior title in Larnaca and adding gold at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires.

But the demands of the first in last year’s World Taekwondo Grand Prix series in Rome were of a totally different order - and she rose superbly to the challenge.

The young Russian took an epic route to the final involving victories over the Rio 2016 Olympic champion Kim So-hui of South Korea, France’s highly-experienced Yasmina Aziez; and Japan’s Asian Games bronze medallist Miya Yamada.

Having already surpassed expectations, the young Russian, ranked 22nd in the world, then went on to take the gold medal against South Korea’s overwhelming favourite - double world champion Sim Jae-young.

It was no marginal success for the athlete just out of the junior ranks, as, with one minute and 20 seconds left, a rear leg round kick to the back of Sim’s head extended her lead to 7-0.

The world number four tried all she knew in the closing stages, but Ryadninskaya came through for gold by a score of 8-4.

"I am very happy about this, but I know that we cannot stop," she told World Taekwondo. "We need to work, correct mistakes, and move on."

The Moscow native, who also won a medal at last year year’s Belgian Open, started taekwondo in her second year at school "after my friend showed me a few kicks".

Now she has kicked on in a big way, and Tokyo 2020 is already in her thoughts. But so, also, is the possibility of extending her singing ambitions. "My dream in the future is to get on The Voice," she said….