GENEVA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won on Monday praised the successful staging of the World Junior Championships at the recently opened Olympic City in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

From April 12 to 17, a total of 986 athletes from around the world competed at the Martial Arts Sports Complex, which will also host the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup at the Aquatics Center in October and the 4th Asian Youth Games in 2029.

"Tashkent has truly embraced taekwondo as part of its culture, and proved to be the perfect setting for the 30th anniversary of our World Taekwondo Junior Championships. We were privileged to stage the first international world championships at the magnificent Olympic City," Choue said.

Uzbekistan won two gold medals on the final day of competition through Mohidil Uktamjonova in the women's -63kg and Asadbek Samandarov in the men's -51kg weight categories, while Yosinbek Odilov had earlier delighted the home crowd with gold in the men's -48kg.

Otabek Umarov, vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia and first vice president of Uzbekistan's National Olympic Committee, said, "This event will also go down in history as the first World Championship ever held at the Olympic City, highlighting the growing role of our country as a host of major international competitions." ■