Despite being 20-10 up against home fighter and defending champion Bianca Walkden in the women's heavyweight final, China's Rio 2016 champion was disqualified for incurring ten fouls after her opponent had repeatedly pushed her off the mat.

The tactic employed by Walkden, who thus earned her third consecutive world title, was considered unsportsmanlike but was nevertheless within the rules, and the British athlete was quite satisfied with the outcome, declaring: "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Walkden's change of tactic had occurred after Zheng, who had already accrued seven penalty points, had become inactive after taking a ten-point lead. When the result was announced there was booing in the arena, and Zheng's coach gave the officials a thumbs-down sign.

But after the Chinese athlete had dropped to her knees on the podium, Britain's performance director Gary Hall took issue with her "disrespectful manner".

Walkden defended her tactics, saying: "I went out there needing to find a different way to win and a win is a win if you disqualify someone - it's not my fault."

Zheng, meanwhile, told Chinese media: "From the first day I picked up this sport, I understood that there was no such thing as absolute fairness in competition. I have been doing this sport for 16 years but this is the first time I have realised that a taekwondo match could be played like this.

"I wish the referee could have been fair in this competition."

A Chinese appeal, and demand that the Moroccan referee, Tarik Benradi, be banned for life, were unsuccessful.

Zheng, however, recovered from her trauma to beat Walkden in the final of the next two Grand Prix events in Chiba and Sofia -12-10 and 3-2 - before winning the Grand Prix Final in Moscow 7-4 against Serbia's Milica Mandic.

Her final action of the year, however, saw her beaten 2-0 by Walkden in the semi-final of the Wuxi Grand Slam event.

Zheng's career was starred from the off as she won world and Olympic gold at youth level in 2010. Two years later she won her first senior event at over-73 kilograms, the German Open, and in 2014 her first Grand Prix gold arrived in Suzhou.

In 2015 she won world silver in Chelyabinsk, losing 5-4 to South Korea's Oh Hye-Ri in the under-73kg category before beating Walkden, newly established as the over-73kg world champion, in the Manchester Open final.

The following year the two met in the Olympic semi-final of the heavyweight category, with Zheng going through 4-1 on superiority before she beat Mexico's Maria Espinoza 5-1 in the final.

At the following year's World Championships Zheng took bronze in the over-73kg class, and in 2018 she won the Grand Prix final at Fujairah. 

Earlier in the 2018 season she beat Walkden 6-4 in the Manchester Grand Prix final - but the following year the same venue would provide her with her least pleasant memory in the sport…