According to IRNA; The national taekwondo team has started its training to attend the upcoming events at the World Taekwondo Center on December 29, with the presence of 25 Hugopush.
In this regard, “Fariborz Askari”, the head coach of the national taekwondo team, stated: “We are leading the world championships in late April of next year and the Asian Games in September.” Both events are especially important for those who want to enter the Grand Prix and the 2024 Olympic Games due to their high scores.
He added: “With a heavy process, we tried to hold selection competitions and enter the army, and form a quality taekwondo team with the presence of the best people.” On this basis, the gold medals of the Asian Clubs Cup and Fajr Cup, the first and second persons of the Asian Open competitions, the medal winners of the Asian Championship and the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, along with the first and second members of the national freestyle and technical committee members, most of whom were young. They won the national team entry competition, which eventually saw the 62 compete against each other, and 25 Hugopush were allowed to enter the camp.
The head coach of the national taekwondo team continued: “Usually, the situation is such that after the Olympics, sports federations move houses in their national teams and add young people to the competition cycle; We were no exception to this rule and we have many taekwondo fighters under 20 in the army, but I do not consider these competitions as the end of the work because many records may be broken. These 25 people are the ones who got the license in the selection, the number of people will decrease, but we will not lose them, and we are going to give them a training program and keep them.
Askari pointed out: “Personally, I believe that if this number of talented and motivated young people have been able to get a permit to participate in the national team camp, it is because of holding dynamic taekwondo leagues;” This year, we will monitor the league closely, and if there is a figure who shows a good performance, he will definitely be added to the army, because we are looking for the best people and there is a possibility of any change.
He added: “There is a possibility of changing the weights of taekwondo fighters, but we do not seek to impose our opinion on athletes, and according to the performance of children, their training in the camp and the existing opponents, we inform them in what weight they are better and finally themselves.” They decide whether to change the weight or not. Definitely we are going to the best option. For example, we had a taekwondo fighter who was in a good position in the rankings at a weight. Now he has changed his weight. Slowly
Referring to the upcoming events, the head coach of the national taekwondo team said: “We have planned programs and tournaments for taekwondo practitioners, but given that the calendar of the World Taekwondo Federation is constantly changing, I hope we can put them into practice.” We have two tournaments, the Asian Club Cup and the Fajr Cup, hosted by our country. With the new calendar of the Asian Taekwondo Union, these competitions have been upgraded from G1 to G2, and we can get good scores.
Askari emphasized: I warned the taekwondo fighters who were sent to the camp to wear iron shoes and have the best performance for the upcoming events. We do not pay attention to names, and anyone who has the necessary preparation can be included in the world team; I have already stated that we do not insist on sending the team in full, because the World Federation has included changes in the scores, and if we improve the team, we will achieve the desired result, so if an eight-member team is sent, it will depend less on the performance of taekwondo fighters. Follow their exercises seriously.
In the end, referring to his assistants, he said: “I introduced my colleagues to the technical committee to attend the technical staff, and finally, considering the numerous meetings we had with the members of this committee, Mohammad Bagheri Motamed and Mehrdad Yousefi as coaches and trainers.” Bodybuilders will help me along the way. Motamed is one of the well-known and moral taekwondo champions of our country, who has Olympic, world, Asian, etc. medals in his record. Has and has now become an experienced champion who can be a good guide for taekwondo practitioners, Yousefi has already had good honors with national teams and has a doctorate in physical education. I hope with their experience we can make good days for Iranian Taekwondo.
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