By Liam Morgan

Team USA enjoyed a successful third day at the US Open Taekwondo Championships at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando ©WTFHosts United States enjoyed a successful medal haul at the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) US Open Championships in Orlando.

TJ Curry led an American clean sweep in the men's under 74 kilogram event as he took gold while compatriots Jaysen Ishida and Thomas Rahimi claimed silver and bronze.

Cheyenne Lewis won her third US Open title in a row thanks to victory over Nikita Glasnovic in the under 57kg category, and team mates Kelsey Junious and Steven Lopez both managed to earn bronze medals.

It was also a fruitful day for the team from Taiwan as Wan-Ting Lin won the under 46kg category, and her achievement was followed by Yun-Wen Huang, who finished top of the podium in the female under 53kg competition.

London 2012 bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad's decision to move up a weight category was justified as the Briton beat Germany's Yassine Trabelsi in the final of the under-87kg event, while compatriot Damon Sansum also got his year off to a good start with under 80kg gold.

London 2012 bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad won gold in the under-87kg category on what was a good day for the British teamLondon 2012 bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad won gold in the under-87kg category on what was a good day for the British team ©Getty Images



Sansum earned a tense victory with a late head kick in his gold medal bout with Armenia's Armen Yeremyan to take the title by virtue of a 4-3 win which followed a superb success over double Olympic champion Lopez in the semi-final.

"I am delighted with the result," he said.

"I have worked really hard over the past few weeks to address areas for improvement.

"Last year was good for me but this year is about ironing out any errors, improving strengths and developing weakness to give me the best possible chance to go to Rio.

"I couldn't have asked for a better start to the year and I'm privileged to have such a good team behind me."

Elsewhere at the event, held at the Orange County Convention Centre, Yuntao Wenren sealed gold in the women's under 49kg category, and Abdoula Issoufou Alfaga of Niger claimed a surprise win in the over 87kg competition, beating Britain's Mahama Cho in a dramatic final.

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