Three continents fight for taekwondo supremacy?
In the 21st Fajr Open 17 countries from three continents flexed their muscles for taekwondo supremacy in a tournament that was sanctioned by the World Taekwondo Federation and placed in the WTF ranking system.
Fajr International Cup not only changed its name to Fajr Open but also saw a change of venue that brought this tournament to the House of Taekwondo.
As an Open tournament and with the additional fact?that Fajr Open is now placed on the WTF Ranking System - that meant athletes would score points that could help them in the WTF Ranking Standings - attracted over 205 Taekwondo athletes to one of the toughest tournaments on the WTF Calendar.
House of Taekwondo - built a few years ago after endless efforts by Mr. Seyed Mohammad Pouladgar, President of I.R. of Iran Taekwondo Federation ?in the north of the city at the edge of snow topped?Alborze Mountains?created a majestic back ground with a flavor of Taekwondo set the scene for some exciting and inspiring intercontinental matches between Taekwondo athletes from Iran, Korea, France, Jordan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, India, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Russia.
Prof. Kyu Seok Lee who served as the Technical Delegate of WTF in the International Referee meeting held one day before the start of the tournament instructed all referees to do their outmost in officiating a fair match and once again reminded them of the points that could disrupt a match and are considered an illegal act by the athletes.
Considering the powerful field of participants everyone was expecting a high flying hard hitting matches particularly since there were several rivalries between old and new rivals.
Korea and Iran presented the top two teams in the world in the past decade and the new comers who are making a name for themselves like France, Turkey, Afganistan and Azerbaijan who were looking to bump off the old powers.
No one left the arena disappointed.
40 International Referees from Europe and Asia help make this two day tournament a success. The spectators witnessed great taekwondo matches and they were reminded once again why taekwondo is the most popular and exciting Martial Arts sport in the world.
After 2 days of tough competitions and many close and nail biting matches that left many fans on the edge of their seats screaming the old powers came out on top as a one two punch again.
Iran was able to come on top with 4 Golds, 1 Silver and 6 Bronzes and 55points and Korea stood in the second place with 1 Gold, 3 Silvers and 3 Bronzes and 50 points.
France showed good power and took the third place with 1 Gold, 2 silvers and 3 Bronzes and 42 points followed by Azerbaijan with 27 points in the fourth place and Afghanistan with 26 points in the 5th place respectively.
Among the VIPs present for this event were Dr. Dai soon Lee, president of the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) and Vice President of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), Prof Kyu Seok Lee Senior Vice President and Secretary General of ATU, Mr. Chiou Hwa Chen Chairman of the Jordanian Technical Committee, Mr. Ghahremanian vice president of Armenia Taekwondo Federation and a number of other high ranking officials from Europe, Asia and Africa.
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For complete results of this tournament you can go to the I.R of Iran Taekwondo Federation site at www.iritf.org.ir
