Croatia's Lena Stojković, left, beat Thailand's Kamonchanok Seeken, right, in the women's under-46kg final at the World Taekwondo Championships ©World Taekwondo

Croatia's Lena Stojković defended her women's under-46 kilograms title at the World Taekwondo Championships here, while 18-year-old South Korean Park Tae-joon earned men's under-54kg gold.

The two lowest weight categories took centre stage in Azerbaijan's capital today, and delivered two wide-open competitions.

However, it was the 21-year-old who won her second World Championships gold with a comeback victory against Thailand's impressive 17-year-old Kamonchanok Seeken.

From the round of 32 through to the final, Seeken has scored double figures in every round of every match, including a comeback victory against Israel's world number three Rivka Bayech in the round of 16.

Seeken beat China's Wang Xiaolu 14-3 and 15-5 in her semi-final, while Stojković overcame Japan's Ruka Okamoto 6-4 and 9-0.

In the final, Seeken continued her remarkable record to take the first round 14-4, but Stojković hit back 12-11 in the second before taking the decider 6-4.

Stojković's run to the final included a 13-9 and 16-3 win against Turkey's Rukiye Yıldırım, who was the runner-up in Guadalajara last year.

South Korea's Park Tae-joon, right, triumphed in the men's under-54kg final against Spain's Hugo Arillo Vazquez ©World Taekwondo
South Korea's Park Tae-joon, right, triumphed in the men's under-54kg final against Spain's Hugo Arillo Vazquez ©World Taekwondo

In the men's under-54kg, the top ranked athletes all tumbled in the morning and afternoon sessions.

Croatia's world number two Josip Teskera lost his opener to Russian neutral Idar Bagov in three rounds, while world number four Mahamadou Amadou of Niger also fell at the first hurdle in a three-round tie against Italy's Teodoro Del Vecchio.

Park won all but one of his matches in two rounds, including a 7-3 and 13-1 thrashing of Greece's Konstantinos Dimitropoulos in the quarter-final.

His semi-final against Uzbekistan's Omonjon Otajonov required three rounds after his opponent took a 5-5 first round on points, but Park prevailed with 8-2 and 18-8 victories.

In the other half of the draw, Spain's Hugo Arillo Vazquez thrashed Turkey's European Championships silver medallist Görkem Polat 15-1 and 9-7 in the last four.

However, the final proved a step too far as Park triumphed 8-0 and 6-3 to claim a sensational maiden world title.

The World Taekwondo Championships is set for its penultimate day tomorrow, with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach due to be among the spectators for the men's under-74kg and women's under-62kg.