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Britain eyes far to London Olympics at taekwondo worlds
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-05-20 16:27
With the Beijing Olympic Games still over a year to go, Britain has already leaped to preparation for the 2012 London Olympics as it fields a young line-up at the World Taekwondo Championships.
"We select a young team composed mainly of players in the age of 12-20 here for we are focusing on future success. If they are good enough, they are old enough for London Olympics," said Gary Hall, performance director of Britain team.
"We haven't decided our players for the Olympic qualifications in Manchester yet. Sarah Stevenson is a world-class player and has won two major international tournaments this year, so she has a great chance to be selected.
"We also get a lot of potential players, and they will make Great Britain better," added Hall on Saturday.
Adrian Trantes, Chairman of Britain Taekwondo Association, is optimistic for building Britain a strong team.
"The British government has invested significantly in all sports, which resulted in a new facility for taekwondo in Manchester," said Trantes.
"We have 17 full-time athletes and four full-time coaches. We are preparing fully for the London Olympic Games, of course first step goes to the Beijing Olympics.
"Manchester is a great city for Beijing Olympic qualifiers on September. It got very fantastic stadiums and it's frantic about sports. It has the experience of hosting Commonwealth Games, so our preparation is good."
For the ongoing world championships, Hall said they were ready.
"We are playing the world championships, so we are fully concentrated on the tournament at the moment and then move on to the next," said Hall.
For the women's under 72 kilograms, Hall put cautious comments over a possible final encounter between British top star Stevenson and China's Olympic Champion Luo Wei.
"She is ready to play and is focused on tomorrow's matches. I hope they'll meet in the final. Sarah has a great half year. She won at European Championships and South Korea Open.
"No one can predict the result and let's see what happens. Tomorrow is an exciting day."
Stevenson is a two-time world champion in 2001 and 2005 Championships, who beat Luo Wei in their last meet in 2006 World Cup.
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