|
The World Cup Team Championships – Taekwondo’s “battle of the nations”
Jan 2018-- Taekwondo’s most exciting competitive format will be on display at the Wuxi World Cup Team Championships, which brings to a close the inaugural World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series in Wuxi, China.
The teams represented in Wuxi are largely those which came out top in the 2017 World Taekwondo Team Championships in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, in December.
In the men’s division, first place winner Iran and second place winner Russia are in contention, as is Korea – the WT Technical Committee recommendation – and China, which gets a host country place.
Iran is another nation which has invested in the team competition, and has been rewarded with a consistently strong record in the format. Given the apparent loss of form by their individual male players since Rio 2016, team competition offers another avenue for success: one Iranian official admitted that the men’s team victory in Abidjan was as much a relief as a delight – otherwise the squad would have returned home empty-handed. Expect fireworks in Wuxi: The Iranian Men’s Team fought an absolute scorcher of a match in the final against the Russians in Abidjan.
Team Russia must be seen as extremely strong contenders in the men’s and mixed gender categories as they lost so, very, very closely in both categories in the finals of the Worlds in Abidjan. In the male team category – after a spectacular battle that could have gone either way – the men from Moscow lost by just one point, 33-34, to the Iranians. They will also be seeking revenge.
Finally, Korea is always a nation worth watching in taekwondo; it continues to lead the world in individual competition. However, the country, while always being a consistent threat in team competition, has fared poorly in the medal rankings. This may be due to the physical size of their teams: The Koreas tend not to be as big as their opponents, and height and leg length are key advantages in taekwondo.
Iran Men’s featured 2015 superstar "Mahdi Khodabakhshi, returning to elite-level international competition after a long, post-Rio layoff in spectacular style. Not only did his team raise the trophy, but "Khodabakhshi was named male MVP of the tourney.
So, pundits will be watching keenly to see which individual stars the national team coaches are fielding in the teams.
|
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
