The fourth and final event of the 2017 World Taekwondo Grand Prix invitational series is scheduled to take place in Abidjan in Ivory Coast from December 2 to 3.

It will be followed by the annual World Taekwondo Team Championships from December 5 to 6.

Between the two competitions, on December 4, will be the 2017 World Taekwondo Gala Awards as the best athletes, coaches and officials of the year are recognised. 

African fighters experienced considerable success at Rio 2016 with Ivorian Cheick Sallah Cissé’s gold medal-winning performance in the men’s 80 kilograms category eclipsing all others.

This was backed up by 2017 World Championship triumphs for Niger’s Abdoul Razak Issoufou and Ivory Coast’s Ruth Gbagbi in the respective men’s over 87kg and women’s under 62kg divisions.

"Since the Rio Olympics in 2016, taekwondo fighters from African have been on a surge, challenging the Asians and Europeans for the prime position in the sport," Choue said.

"For this reason, it is highly appropriate for World Taekwondo to bring a trio of top-tier events to the continent at year’s end."

The World Taekwondo Grand Prix Final comes on the back of tournaments in Moscow, Rabat and London.

It will see athletes in four male and four female weight categories compete for both Olympic ranking points and prize money - $6,000 (£4,500/€5,100) for gold medallists, $3,000 (£2,200/€2,500) for silver medallists and £1,000 (£750/€840) for bronze medallists.

They will also be vying for places at the new Grand Slam Champions Series, which is due to be contested in Chinese city Wuxi across the coming two months.

The Series will offer the most prize money in taekwondo history.

Male, female and mixed-gender teams will compete in the World Taekwondo Team Championships.

The top two male and female teams will go through to the Grand Slam Team Championships in Wuxi in January.