Manchester,
Great Britain will host the most competitive Para Taekwondo event since Tokyo
2020 when over 100 of the world’s best athletes meet at the third leg of the
inaugural Para Grand Prix.

By Lee
Reaney

Over 100 of the world’s best Para Taekwondo
athletes. 19 current or former world champions. Four reigning Paralympic
champions.

When World Taekwondo launched its inaugural
Para Grand Prix Series – this is what it had in mind.

The last leg of the inaugural Para Grand Prix
Series will take place in Manchester, Great Britain on 20 October and will draw
the most competitive field since the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Several teams and fighters are making their
long-awaited returns to international competitions, including Peru’s Paralympic
champion Angelica Espinoza, Nepal’s Asian Youth Para Games champion Palesha
Goverdhan, and Great Britain’s 2019 world champion Matt Bush. After
missing the Paris Para GP, Great Britain’s former world champion Amy
Truesdale is expected to make a return, as are teams from Korea, Chinese
Taipei, and Thailand.

If the first two Para GP events in Sofia,
Bulgaria and Paris, France are any indication, Para Taekwondo fans are in for a
treat.

Home Cooking for Host Great Britain

If history is any indicator, hosting the Para
Grand Prix could be a boon to the team from Great Britain.

Several of the biggest moments in Great
Britain’s Para Taekwondo history happened on home soil. Amy Truesdale won her
first world championship in London in 2017, while Beth Munro and Joe
Lane won their first European championships in Manchester earlier this
year.

2019 world champion Matt Bush will make his
return to competition for the first time since winning the European Paralympic
Qualification tournament last summer. In top shape after rehabbing a serious
knee injury, he won’t have to face Croatia’s Paralympic silver medalist Ivan
Mikulic, who was forced to withdraw due to his own injury.

While Great Britain’s Para Taekwondo fighters
have risen to the occasion at home in previous tournaments, the Para GP could
be a different experience. After hosting the last Para GP, France’s former
world champion Bopha Kong and Afghan refugee Paralympian Zakia
Khodadadi, who lives and trains with France’s team, both cited nerves as factor
in their performances at their home GP.

“My first fight on French soil put a lot of
pressure on me” Khodadadi told the French Taekwondo Federation after failing to
medal in Paris, “This made it a lot harder to fight in Paris than in another
country”.

New Talents Emerge

Allowing up-and-coming athletes more
opportunities to show their progress, the Para Grand Prix Series has put
several new athletes on the radar as potential Paris 2024 medal hopefuls.

Brazil’s Ana Carolina Silva topped the
reigning Paralympic, World, and European champions on the way to her first
major international title at the Para GP in Paris.

Spain’s Dalia Moreno handed Uzbekistan’s
in-form Guljonoy Naimova her first loss since becoming Paralympic
champion to become the surprising +65 kg gold medalist in Paris.

Capping a strong 2022, Uzbekistan’s Asad
Toshtemirov won his first Para GP title by besting Kazakhstan’s former
world champion Nurlan Dombayev in the -80 kg final in Paris.

At the first Para GP in Sofia, it was France’s Djelika
Diallo and Ukraine’s Vlad Nechai that won surprise medals, both at
the expense of Great Britain’s current European champions. Diallo topped
Paralympic silver medalist Munro for gold, while Nechai beat Paralympian Lane
in the quarter-final to secure his first international medal.

Crowning Para Taekwondo’s First Undisputed
Grand Prix Champions

Four fighters will be battling for a piece of
Para Taekwondo history in Manchester – to become the sport’s first Undisputed Grand
Prix champions.

Mexico’s Paralympic champion Juan Diego
Garcia Lopez has only lost twice since winning his first world championship
in early 2019. He’s the only fighter to have won every fight so far in 2022,
including both Para GPs, but uncharacteristically needed a golden point to get
past Azerbaijan’s Imamaddin Khalilov in Sofia.

Turkey has a pair of fighters looking to win
the first-ever Para Taekwondo’s first Undisputed Para GP champions. Mahmut
Bozteke has twice beaten Brazil’s Paralympic champion Nathan Torquato
in the Para GP finals, including in Paris in one of the most entertaining
fights of the year. Paralympic silver medalist Meryem Cavdar has yet to
lose at the Para GP, beating Mexico’s Jessica Garcia in the final at
both events.

The USA’s Evan Medell is also looking
for his third straight Para GP title. While he won’t have to face Croatia’s
Paralympic runner-up Mikulic for a third straight time due to an injury by his
opponent, he may have to get past Great Britain’s 2019 world champion Bush to
claim the title in what would be one of the most highly anticipated matches in
Manchester.

No Easy Fights

In a sign of Para Taekwondo’s increasing talent
and depth at the elite level, there are no sure-fire winners heading into the
Manchester Para GP.

Every major Paris 2024 medal contender has lost
at least once in 2022 except for Mexico’s Garcia Lopez, who fell in the 2021
World Championship final and needed a golden point victory to claim his first
Para GP title.

Every other Paralympic champion has been beaten
– Brazil’s Torquato is still in search of his first Para GP title; Denmark’s Lisa
Gjessing lost at the European Championships and Paris Para GP; Uzbekistan’s
Naimova was upset in the Paris Para GP final, and Peru’s Espinoza lost in her
first fight since winning Tokyo 2020 gold – her first loss since 2019 – at the
Pan Am Series earlier this month.

Six of the 10 Paralympic weight categories have
already seen multiple Para GP champions.

With returning stars like Bush, Espinoza, and
Truesdale in the mix in Manchester, it won’t be any easier for Para Taekwondo’s
best to finish on top at the finalPara  Grand Prix event of 2022.*

*NOTE: Para Taekwondo could be included in the 2022 Grand Prix Finals. Be
sure to subscribe to the World Para Taekwondo newsletter for all the latest
updates.