ROME (ITALPRESS) – Simone Alessio continued to dominate in the new weight class and won the gold medal in the -87 kg at the Dutch Open 2025 taekwondo competition. In the final, the Italian champion overcame Szymon Piatkowski (Poland), No. 1 on the scoreboard, with a bout handled with authority from the start. Alessio won the first round 8-5 and the second 6-4, showing confidence and adaptation to the category. After winning gold at the Fujairah Open, this success confirms the good momentum of the Italian, who finished the tournament with four victories.
“I am happy with the performance,” he said, “I felt loose, relaxed and had a lot of fun. Obviously it is a long way, slowly we will get to face more and more level opponents. Already here at the Dutch Open the level was very competitive. I am also satisfied with the performance of the team: many guys are believing, they are young and have a bright future. I will try to make my experience available.”
Also an excellent performance for Ludovico Iurlaro, who won silver in the -63 kg. In the final, the Italian faced Cyrian Ravet (France), Olympic bronze medalist in Paris in the -58 kg, an experienced opponent. The match ended in two rounds: 7-12 and 8-19 in favor of the Frenchman. For Iurlaro, however, this is a remarkable result, considering that he started the tournament from 32nd and showed a growing path.
In addition to the two finals for gold, the Italian team achieved five other podiums with Giulia Galiero (-46 kg), Ilenia Matonti (-49 kg), Angelo Mangione (-74 kg), Alexander Oberhofer (-87 kg) and Matteo De Angelis (+87 kg), all of whom turned in solid performances that allowed them to climb the third step of the podium. An overall result that confirms the competitiveness of the Italian group in a high-level tournament.
– Fita press office photo –
(ITALPRESS).
