Henrique Marques won this Monday (27) Brazil’s first men’s gold medal in the history of the Taekwondo World Cup. In Wuxi, China, the 21-year-old Brazilian defeated Chinese Qizhang Xiang 2-0 in the decision and won the title in the under-80 kg category.
It was the second Brazilian triumph in the 2025 edition and the third all time. Last Friday (24), Maria Clara Pacheco won the women’s competition up to 57 kg and repeated the feat that Natália Falavigna had achieved in 2005, in the championship for women up to 72 kg.
“I’m very happy with this achievement, very happy with my performance, very happy with everything that’s been happening in my life. We left here champions, and it’s all thanks to a lot of work”, said Henrique, sharing the glory with his team.
The Rio native from Itaboraí set the 2028 Olympic Games, in Los Angeles, as his next big goal. “We took the first step here. God willing, we will be champions in Los Angeles too.”
The triumph marks the recovery of an athlete who had to undergo heart surgery in December 2023, after discovering an arrhythmia. He missed out on the 2023 World Cup and said he had considered abandoning the sport. The following year, he had another blow with the death of his father.
Marques recovered physically in time to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris, and stopped in the quarterfinals. Now, he arrived at the World Cup in China as seventh place in his category and left favorites behind.
In his campaign in Wuxi, the Brazilian eliminated Kevin Calderón Martínez, from Cuba, Faysal Sawadogo, from Burkina Faso, CJ Nickolas, from the United States, and Artem Mytarev, from Russia. He then faced the Chinese Qizhang Xiang and won.
Henrique won the first round of the final 2-1. He landed a kick on the Chinese player’s vest, which earned him two points, and lost one point as punishment. In the second, the score was 0-0, but he had more touches on his rival’s vest, which gave him the advantage in the tiebreaker.
