Tournament in Kazan is like Olympic Games

Press-conference dedicated to the European Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for London 2012 Olympic Games was held in the palace of martial arts “Ak Bars” in Kazan earlier today. 119 sportsmen from 39 countries will be fighting for the right to participate in Summer Olympics during next 3 days.

Secretary-general of the World Taekwondo Federation Jin Suk Yang, President of Russian Taekwondo Union Anatoly Terekhov, chairman of judges of the European Taekwondo Union Chakir Chelbat and minister of youth affairs, sports and tourism of the Republic of Tatarstan Rafis Burganov attended the press-conference.



Jin Suk Yang expressed his gratitude for high level of organization. He said that Kazan is a very hospitable city. According to Chakir Chelbat, judges from all over the globe but Europe arrived to Kazan so that competition is fair and objective. He also said that this tournament will show who will have the biggest chances to win golden medals in the upcoming Olympic Games.

Rafis Burganov told about taekwondo in the Republic of Tatarstan. There are about 3500 people who take taekwondo lessons in the republic. Arsen Tsinaridze has already become the champion of the World Summer Universiade which was held in Shenzhen in 2011.

European Taekwondo Qualification Tournament will last for 3 days.

Today we will know the winners in 2 categories: men – 58 kg and women – 49 kg.

Online streaming is available at http://www.wtf-taekwondo.tv/ .