(November 17, 2016) -- Austin Tran and Van Mitchel Bactista both won three straight matches on Thursday to reach the quarterfinal round of the 11^th WTF World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Burnaby, Canada. It was the highest finishes yet for the American team competing at the five-day event. 

Fighting in the male -55kg division, Tran opened with a 13-1 point gap victory over Slovenia's Ziga Korpar and followed that up with an overtime win against Chinese Taipei's Hao-Yu Hsu in the round of 32. In the round of 16, Tran scored another 13-1 point gap triumph over Leon Glasnovic of Sweden to reach the quarterfinals. His quarterfinal match against Iran's Ali Baseri also went to overtime and Baseri was awarded the victory by superiority after a scoreless overtime period.

Baseri would go on to claim a bronze medal along with Morocco's Houssam El Amrani. Korea's Chan-ho Jung won the gold medal with a victory in the final over Azerbaijan's Gashim Magomedov.

In the men's -51kg class, Bactista also had three victories on the day. He opened with two point-gap victories; a 14-2 win against Puerto Rico's Adrian Benitez and a 14-0 win over New Zealand's Nipesh Prakash. In the round of 16, Bactista defeated Brazil's Gabriel Antunes, 12-5, before losing in the quarterfinals to Iran's Ebrahim Safari Soumeeh.

Safari Soumeeh went on to win the silver medal after losing the final to Korea's Jan Jung. Bronze medals went to Chinese Taipei's Sheng-Lun Huang and Russia's Sergei Kirsanov.

In the women's -46kg division, Leah Mitelberg registered an overtime victory against Canada's Aidan MacDonald in the round of 32 before losing a hard-fought 1-0 decision to Nuray Muratkyzy of Kasakhstan. Muratkyzy would go on to claim a bronze medal along with Israel's Abishag Semberg. Thailand's Napaporn Charananwat took the gold and Sweden's Rim Bayaa won the silver medal.

Chloe Towns lost her opening match in the women's -49kg division to eventual gold medalist Yu-Jin Kim of Korea, 6-1, in the round of 16. Chinese Taipei's Chia Yin Sung won the silver medal while Slovakia's Gabriela Briskarova and Mexico's Daniela Paola Souza took the bronze medals.

Next up for Team USA on Friday will be female lightweight (-52kg) Logan Weber, female welterweight (-55kg) Starla Santana, male lightweight (-59kg) Derrick Kwak, Jr. and male welterweight (-63kg) Joshua Liu.

Live-streaming for Day 1 ~ Day 5 [Semi-finals and Finals]
Watch on WTF website and WTF YouTube Channel.
Day 1 (Nov 16): Opening Ceremony: 17:00 ~ 19:00 (Vancouver Time) 
                          Semi-finals & Final: 19:00 ~ 21:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 21:00 ~ 22:00 
Day 2 (Nov 17): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 3 (Nov 18): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 4 (Nov 19): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 5 (Nov 20): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 19:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00

World Junior Taekwondo Championships Schedule

Live-streaming for Day 1 ~ Day 5 [Semi-finals and Finals]
Watch on WTF website and WTF YouTube Channel.
Day 1 (Nov 16): Opening Ceremony: 17:00 ~ 19:00 (Vancouver Time) 
                          Semi-finals & Final: 19:00 ~ 21:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 21:00 ~ 22:00 
Day 2 (Nov 17): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 3 (Nov 18): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 4 (Nov 19): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 20:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00 
Day 5 (Nov 20): Semi-finals & Final: 17:00 ~ 19:00 
                          Awarding Ceremony: 19:00 ~ 20:00