Iranians eyeing Olympic berths in World Taekwondo GS
A couple of quotas for next year’s Paris Olympics will be up for grabs when the Iranians participate at the World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series – starting December 13 in Wuxi, China.
Iranian hopefuls Mahdi Hajimousaei and Mehran Barkhordari had the opportunity to punch their tickets for the French capital through the final series of the World Grand Prix in Manchester, only to miss out on the event after being denied entry visas by the UK Embassy in Ankara.
On Monday, the international governing body of the sport released the Olympic Kyorugi Rankings, in which Hajimousaei moved up by three spots to stand eighth in the men’s -58kg weight class, with Barkhordari retaining the 10th place in the -80kg category.
The latest rankings mean that three victory and a fifth-place finish in Manchester would have secured the Olympic slot for Hajimousaei, while Barkhordari would have also qualified with a bronze.
“It’s a pity that our athletes missed a big chance [to qualify for the Olympics] due to the Britons’ foot-dragging,” Hadi Saei, the chairman of the Iranian federation, told Fars News Agency, adding: “The British Embassy eventually issued the visas for them on Saturday, but it turned out to be too late as three of the Iranian contestants were to be in action on the first day of the event.”
“When you look at the results of the -58kg contests, you realize what an opportunity it was for us to guarantee the Paris berths as all the medal winners in Manchester had been beaten by the Iranian opponents in the previous series this year,” added the two-time Olympic gold winner in 2004 and 2008.
A runner-up in the first series of the World GP in Rome, Hajimousaei pulled off a major upset in September’s Series 2 in Paris by defeating reigning Olympic champion Vito Dell’Aquila of Italy – gold medalist in Manchester – on his way to the ultimate prize.
Barkhordari also enjoyed an impressive run in this year’s Grand Prix, taking the silver in Rome before grabbing the gold in Paris.
The World champion and a winner of double GP silvers in 2023, Iranian girl Nahid Kiani edged ever closer to the Paris ticket after moving up to fourth in the women’s -57kg Olympic ranking.
Controversial visa denials have kept the Iranian athletes from taking part at several international events over the past months – most recently in mid-November’s World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
The country also had to send a depleted squad to Anaheim, California, for the final week of the preliminary round in the Volleyball Nations League in July, while the Iranian freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling teams were ruled out of October’s U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania.