World Taekwondo Festival;  Afghanistan won one silver and two bronze medals on the first day of the competition.

Afghanistan's Taekwondo national team competed in the World Taekwondo Festival in Shiapchang yesterday, and Bizhan Sadrzadeh won the silver medal in the weight of 63 kg. Ramesh Hosseini and Omid Sohak won bronze medals in the 80 kg weight category.

Bizhan Sadrzadeh defeated Yerdos Uralbkov from Kazakhstan in the first round. In the semi-final, he also defeated another Kazakh athlete, Yeldus Yescak, and reached the final of the tournament. In the final, Sadrzadeh fought with Hwan Young Kim from South Korea and was defeated in two rounds to settle for the silver medal.

In the 80 kg category, Ramesh Hosseini, who was drawn in the first round, lost to Ildar Birimbay from Kazakhstan in the next round and won the bronze medal. In the same weight, Omid Sohak, another national taekwondo player of Afghanistan, was also present. He rested in the first round and lost to Jen Soo Choi of South Korea in the second round and finished third.

Tomorrow and on the second day of this tournament, two Afghan taekwondo players named Mohsen Rezaei and Omid Sohak will face South Korea in the quarter finals of the team tournament.

Afghan athletes will also enter the field tomorrow in individual competitions. Mohsen Rezaei will compete with Shahzeb Khan from Pakistan in 58 kg, and Ramin Amini will compete with the winner of the Mongolian and South Korean taekwondo competition in 54 kg.

At the end of yesterday's competitions, the head of the World Taekwondo Federation met and talked with the players and members of the technical staff of the national Taekwondo team. The players of the Afghanistan national taekwondo team will compete in the World Festival tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and return to Afghanistan two days later.