High-octane action is guaranteed when the 10th Korean Ambassador kicks off on Thursday with the registration of eight national athletes that represented Nigeria at the recently concluded 12th All African Games.
Among the national athletes registered are: African Bronze Medallist, Benjamin Okuomose [male heavyweight +87kg], ex-African champion Uzoamaka Otuadinma who came away with a bronze in the female -73kg and commonwealth gold medal Josephine Esuku [female -46kg], who returned a fortnight ago from a Tokyo 2020 test event in Japan.
Other national teammates include: Defending Korean Ambassador Champion and Most Valuable Player of the last 2018 edition, Ifeoluwa Ajayi Peter Itiku [male welterweight -80kg], [male featherweight -63kg], Abdulfathi Sanusi [male fly weight -58kg], Arinola Abdullateef [male fin weight -58kg].
With the star prize of new flat TV screens to be dished out to the best male and female athlete, as well as gifts of equipment to medallist plus vital national ranking points, the taekwondo stars will have their work cut out against other taekwondo gladiators in the country, keen to impress and rise up the national ranks.
National athletes like Ifeoluwa Ajayi, who is the defending Korean Ambassador Champion in the male is -63kg and was the Most Valuable Player of the last 2018 edition, will be hard pressed pressure to retain the MVP award he won last year as he is competing in the higher male -68kg weight category.
Registered so far to compete in sixteen kyeorugi events and five poomsae events are 170 athletes from 25 teams, including athletes from Nigeria Army, Nigeria Police, Nigeria Civil Defense and Security Corps, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, FCT, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos, Niger, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, and Taraba
Hostilities will take place at the Teslim Balogun Indoor Hall between October 17 and 18, 2019, with the international award-winning Kukkiwon demonstration team expected to perform at the closing ceremony of the prestigious event.
The event is being organised by the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation and supported by the Korean Embassy in Lagos.
Other partners involved to ensure the success of the event include the Lagos State Taekwondo Association and Blitz Management Consult.
At the 2018 Korean Ambassador’s Cup, Q-Madi’s Ifeoluwa Ajayi [now a National Player] and Oyo’s Olayinka Olawumi won the MVP Best Male and Female Awards.
