Taekwondo fighters to compete for Rio Olympic spot
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Jade Jones of the U.K., right, lands a kick in the face of Eva Calvo Gomez of Spain, during their women’s 57 kilograms final of the 2014 World Taekwondo Grand Prix at Queretaro Convention Center in Mexico, in this Dec. 4, 2014, file photo. / Courtesy of World Taekwondo Federation
By Nam Hyun-woo
Top taekwondo practitioners will fight for a spot in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics this weekend, during the 2015 World Taekwondo Federation Grand Prix Final in Mexico City.
The world taekwondo body’s grand prix series will come to its finale at the Magdalena Mixihuca sports complex, with 64 of the highest-ranked athletes from 28 countries seeking 48 tickets to Rio.
For the event, the federation invited the top eight athletes in world rankings in each Olympic weight category. There are four male and four female weight categories. After the event, the top six athletes in points can claim one Olympic quota for their National Olympic Committees (NOCs). Since the federation restricts each NOC from collecting more than one Olympic quota, six different countries will earn tickets in one weight category.
A total of 128 athletes will compete in Rio. The remaining 80 taekwondo Olympic berths will be filled next year by athletes via the Continental Qualification Tournament (72), host country places (4) and Tripartite Commission Invitations (4) ― better known as wild cards.
It is at the discretion of each NOC to decide which athletes they should send to Rio, with the entry deadline set for next July 18. The Korea Taekwondo Association has not decided whether it should send the athletes who earned the quota to Rio or hold a separate tryout.
For the berths, Korea sent seven fighters to Mexico City on Nov. 28. They are Kim Tae-hun (No. 2) and Cha Tae-moon (No. 6) in men’s -58 kilograms; Lee Dae-hoon (No. 2) and Kim Hun (No. 8) in men’s -68 kilograms; Cha Dong-min (No. 5) in men’s +80 kilograms; Kim So-hui (No. 7) in women’s -49 kilograms and Oh Hye-ri (No. 4) in women’s -67 kilograms.
With Kim Tae-hun and Lee Dae-hoon consolidating their positions, while Cha Dong-min and Oh Hye-ri seemed to sit above the cut-off line, keen interest is focused on Kim So-hui and whether she can earn a quota in her weight category.
In women’s -49 kilograms, Thailand has two athletes ― Chanatip Sonkham (No. 3) and Panipak Wongpattanakit (No. 6) ― in the top six. Should Kim maintain her position, she can earn a quota for Korea. Since the Grand Prix Final gives more ranking points to medalists ― 80 points for first place, 48 for second place and 28.8 for third ― compared with other Grand Prix Series events, Kim also can expect a huge jump in her rankings.
The tournament will also feature five gold medalists from the 2012 London Games, including Servet Tazegul of Turkey, Joel Gonzalez Bonilla of Spain, Wu Jingyu of China and Jade Jones of the U.K.
In addition to the Grand Prix Final, Mexico City will host the federation’s Gala Awards 2015, the World Cup Taekwondo Team Championships. On Friday, the federation’s council gathered in the city and discussed preparations for the Rio Games and its new initiative of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, a body aimed at helping refugees and displaced people as well as instructing in taekwondo.
The fighter of the year will be announced at the Gala Awards. The top honor will be decided by athletes who started voting during the previous Grand Prix series in October in Manchester, U.K.