Ivorian athlete Kimi Laurène Ossin has won the silver medal (-73 kg) at her very first World Taekwondo Championships, held this year in Wuxi, China.

At just 17 years old, Ossin delivered an almost flawless performance throughout the competition but was narrowly defeated in the final by Belgium’s world number one, Sarah Chaâri.

“I’m really happy. I trained a lot to get here,” she told RFI. “Since I’m still young, I need to gain more experience. I hope next time will be even better, but I’m already proud of how far I’ve come. So many people have supported me — my coaches, Ruth Gbagbi, Cheick Cissé, the national team… they’ve all been there for me.”

Her impressive performance marks a promising start for the young Ivorian, who is already being seen as one of the bright new hopes of Ivorian taekwondo on the world stage.