Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, 7 Other African Countries Secure Olympic Tickets

Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, 7 Other African Countries Secure Olympic Tickets

By Admin

Ten countries, including hosts, Morocco and Nigeria, secured sixteen tickets for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics at the just concluded African Qualification Tournament holding in Rabat.

The spread of the medals acutely reflects the difficulty and competitiveness of the Olympic qualification process, as well of spread of taekwondo development across the African continent.

Egypt and Morocco secured four and three Olympic tickets respectively, while the remaining Ivory Coast got two Olympic tickets.

Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tunisia, Mali, Niger Republic and Gabon picked one Olympic ticket each.

In the female -49kg, the number one and two seeds, Egypt’s Nour Abdelsalam and Morocco’s El Boutchi, lived up to expectations to emerge as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.

In the female -67kg, current African Champion and the number one seed, Egypt’s Malak Hedaya joined the number three seed, Nigeria’s Elizabeth Anyanacho as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.

In the male -58kg, the number one seed Morocco’s Omar Lakehal and Ethiopia’s Solomon Demse emerged as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.

In the male +80kg, number two seed Cote d’Ivoire’s Seydou Gbane joined Gabon’s Anthony Obame to emerge as the category’s Olympic ticket holders.

105 athletes from 35 countries battled for 16 Olympic tickets for the world’s most prestigious sporting event, with eight of those Olympic tickets already earned on day one of the qualification tournament.

For the Taekwondo event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there are a total of 128 slots available to be secured – 120 for qualification places, four for the hosts – Japan and four Tripartite Commission Invitation Places.

NUMBER OF OLYMPIC BERTHS SECURED BY THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES AT THE AFRICAN QUALIFICATION TOURNAMENT FOR TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS

NUMBER OF COUNTRIES – 35

1. EGYPT [4]
2. MOROCCO [3]
3. COTE D’IVOIRE [2]
4. NIGERIA [1]
5. GABON [1]
6. MALI [1]
7. NIGER REPUBLIC [1]
8. TUNISIA [1]
9. KENYA [1]
10. ETHIOPIA [1]

NAMES OF QUALIFIED PERSONS BY WEIGHT CATEGORY
FEMALE -49KG

1. EGYPT – NOUR ABDELSALAM
2. MOROCCO – EL OUMAIMA BOUTCHI

FEMALE -57KG

1. MOROCCO – NADA LAARAJ
2. NIGER REPUBLIC – TEKIATH BEN

FEMALE -67KG

1. EGYPT – MALAK HEDAYA
2. NIGERIA – ELIZABETH ANYANACHO

FEMALE +67KG

1. COTE D’IVOIRE – AMINATA CHARLEN TRAORE
2. KENYA – FAITH OGALLO

MALE -58KG

1. ETHIOPIA – SOLOMON DEMSE
2. TUNISIA – MOHAMMED KHALIL

MALE -68KG

1. EGYPT – WAEL ABDELRAHMAN
2. MALI – SEYDOU FOFANA

MALE -80KG

1. MOROCCO – ACHRAF MAHBOUBI
2. EGYPT – SEIF EISSA

MALE +80KG

1. COTE D’IVOIRE – SEYDOU GBANE
2. GABON – ANTHONY OBAME