Joo Jung-hoon attacking (right)▶ Click here for a larger view
Joo Jung-hoon (27, Seoul Taekwondo Association for the Disabled) is the first Korean Taekwondo player to stand on the stage of the Paralympic Games.
On the 23rd (local time) in Amman, Jordan, Joo Jung-hoon climbed to the top in the men’s 75kg class (K44) in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games Asian Qualification and got the right to participate in the Paralympic Games.
In this competition, 26 athletes from 12 countries participated, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Iran took the Olympic qualifications from the K44 (K43) women’s 49kg class, 58kg, and 58kg superclass, and the men’s 61kg class, 75kg class, and 75 Uzbekistan, Korea, and Kazakhstan each obtained tickets to Tokyo at the kilogram surcharge.
K43 is a type with paralysis or amputation under the elbow among both arm disorders, and K44 is a type with paralysis or amputation under the elbow among single-arm disorders.
Joo Jung-hoon won the final by defeating Mongolia’s Sinevayar Batbayar with a big score of 53-17.
Joo Jung-hoon is the only Korean player to compete in the Tokyo Paralympic Taekwondo event.
Taemin Kim (Nazareth University), who participated in the men’s 61kg class, was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Jung-Hoon Joo (second from left) won gold medal in the Asian selection at the Tokyo Paralympic Games▶ Click here for a larger view
Taekwondo, together with badminton, will be played as an official Paralympic event for the first time in this Tokyo tournament.
At the Tokyo Paralympic Games, Taekwondo is only contested by people with amputated upper limbs.
There are a total of 6 gold medals in each of 3 weight classes for men and women.
A total of 72 male and female athletes including one from Korea, six from Turkey, four from Russia and Azerbaijan, and three from the UK will participate.
The K43 was given automatic participation rights to the first and second place in the World Taekwondo Federation (WT) World Taekwondo Rankings for the Disabled by weight category, and the K44 was given the right to participate in the WT World Ranking 1-4 by weight category.
The 30 winners of the continental selection, 3 host countries (Japan), and 3 wildcards were also eligible to participate.
The Tokyo Paralympic Taekwondo competition will be held on September 2-4 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
Taekwondo was adopted as an official event for the Tokyo Paralympic Games by the Executive Committee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2015, and is scheduled to be played as an official event until the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
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