▲     © WTU

By Pau Aguilar of Spain

Wongpattanakit, Jones, Tatar, Walkden, Kim, Lee, Khramtcov and Larin reign once again in the 8 weight categories

Take a look at the current status of the eight Olympic rankings of World Taekwondo as of July 1st 2019. The same four male athletes and fourfemale fighters that led the standings in June are still in front of the race to earn a ticket for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with Nur Tatar consolidating her 1st place in Women’s -67 kg.

Panipak Wongpattanakit from Thailand retains the 1st place in Women’s -49 kg with 597.56 points, more than 100 points ahead of Korean star So-hui Kim and nearly 300 points more than Tijana Bogdanovic from Serbia, member of Team Daedo.

In Women’s -57 kg, double Olympic champion Jade Jones (GBR) remains as the leader, followed by Lee (KOR), who keeps her place in the top 2. Double world champion Irem Yaman, another Daedo athlete, confirms her spot in the podium of the division.

Nur Tatar’s silver in Manchester gave the Turkish star the first place in the Women’s -67 kg ranking and she hasn’t allowed neither Oh (Korea) nor Zhang (China) to overcome her as the queen of the category.

In Women’s +67 kg, no significant changes have affected the leaders of the race, with Walkden (GBR), Zheng (CHN) mantaining their privileged spots and Mandic (Serbia, Team Daedo competitor) moving down from the 3rd to the 5th place in favour of Lee (KOR) and Kowalczuk (POL).

Two more Daedo fighters, the Korean superstars Tae-hun Kim and Dae-hoon Lee, top the Men’s -58 and -68 kg categories with over a 50 points and more than 200 points ahead of their pursuers respectively.

In Men’s -80 kg, Khramtcov (RUS) is now followed by the reigning Olympic champion, Cheick Sallah Cisse (CIV), another Taekwondo player sponsored by Daedo, who overcomes double world champion Beigi Harchegani (AZE) to retake the 2ns place. The three of them keep standing out as the kings of the division, while in the heaviest class, the Men’s +80 kg one, Larin (RUS), In (KOR) and Cho (GBR) left no chance for the rest of contestants to earn a spot in the top 3. Issoufou (NIG) –Daedo athlete– moves down from the 3rd place to the 4th after Cho’s success in the competitions held in June.

The points awarded to each athlete take into consideration all the events held until the end of June 2019 on the World Taekwondo official calendar.

Women’s -49 kg

Women’s -57 kg

Women’s -67 kg

Women’s +67 kg

Men’s -58 kg

Men’s -68 kg

Men’s -80 kg

Men’s +80 kg

                                               World Taekwondo United News (WTU-news 세계태권도연합뉴스)