Taekwondo’s Olympic hopefuls fight for tickets to Tokyo at Malaysia Open

KUALA LUMPUR: Rio de Janeiro Olympic gold medallist Ahmad Abughaush will be the star attraction at the World Taekwondo Malaysia Open G1 championships from March 1-4.

The world No. 3, who became the first Jordanian to win an Olympic gold, will feature in the men’s featherweight (below 68kg) category at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

The 22-year-old is one of many who have confirmed participation for the four-day meet that serves as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Malaysian exponents will join the chase for Olympic tickets by featuring in all 17 events. There will be six men and six women in kyorugi (sparring) events and another five in poomsae (non-sparring). But only the kyorugi events will be contested in the Tokyo Games.

Taekwondo Malaysia (TM) president Tan Sri S.A. Vigneswaran said Malaysia were given the honour to host the championships by World Taekwondo.

“This is the platform for our exponents to show their prowess again. They proved their capabilities at the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games last year by winning three gold, four silver and five bronze medals,” said Vigneswaran.

“More than 300 exponents from 25 countries will feature in this meet. It’ll be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on March 3.”

Meanwhile, Vigneswaran said they would follow up on an idea by World Taekwondo president Dr Choue Chung Won to build a taekwondo academy.

“Malaysia will be the first country in South East Asia to have a taekwondo academy. It’ll be a platform to produce talented exponents,” he said.

“We hope to get the approval from the government, Youth and Sports Ministry and also the National Sports Council (NSC) to build it.”

TM will also host the World Taekwondo Malaysia Humanitarian and Refugees run from Feb 23-25.

“This event will raise donations for Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation that is based in Switzerland,” he added.