Sung Yu-Chi won an unexpected gold medal for Chinese Taipei after beating Nesar Bahavee of Afghanistan 5-(-1) in the men's 72kg final in Beijing on Saturday.

Title favorite Hadi Bonehkohal of Iran failed to make the final after losing to Bahavee as referee penalized him for passiveness.

Sung, a college teacher, built up a 4-0 lead in the first two rounds and held on for a clear-margin win in the final.

"I'd prepared for a match against Hadi, but he failed to make it. I would be confident (to win the final) even if he (Hadi) were in the final," Sung said.

Sung Chung-Hung, coach of father of Sung, said the victory could be a motivation for her son to go for an Olympic medal next year in Beijing.

"He was thinking of retire if he could make a good finish in this tournament. But now we're thinking about the Beijing Olympics," the coach said.

In the semi-finals, Bahavee battled against Bonehkohal for three rounds and neither could score.

Bonehkohal, Iran's taekwondo legend who has Grand Slam with victories in Olympics, World Cup and World Championships, suffered point deduction when Bahavee attempted to strike with double side-kicks.

The Iranian team submitted a request for the judgement but the Technical Committee of the World Taekwondo Federation did not make any change.

Bonehkohal won the bronze medal in the last version of the worlds in Madrid, Spain, in 2005.