LAUREN Williams has won her first World Taekwondo Grand Prix title after a comprehensive defeat of Ivory Coast’s Ruth Gbagbi in London.
Blackwood’s Williams, 18, beat the reigning world champion 43-23 at the CopperBox Arena to secure gold in the women’s -67kg weight category.
"It's such a big competition, I'm lost for words," she told BBC Sport.
"I didn't put anyone above me and I knew I could beat them, but having my family here certainly helped.
"It's the first time I've enjoyed a competition and I've smiled all day."
The teenager, world junior champion in 2014 and 2016 and European senior champion in 2015, overcame a good start by Gbagbi to clinch an emphatic victory.
She had earlier beaten USA Olympic medallist Paige McPherson 32-26 to win through to the final, while her quarter-final with Turkey’s Nur Tatar had gone to a golden point.
Williams got the score required to claim a 19-17 triumph having begun her campaign in London with a 23-8 defeat of Germany’s Rabia Guelec.
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