Georgia with two Olympic licences in Para-Taekwondo. GEORGIAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE

The European Para-Taekwondo Qualification Tournament for the Paris 2024 Paralympics took place on 8th February in Sofia, Bulgaria. Winners in 10 weight categories qualified for Paris 2024.

Zakia Khudadadi, a refugee athlete who became European champion in 2023, qualified for the Olympic Games in the women's 47kg category for the second time in a row. Georgia was the only country to win more than one quota. 

Giorgi Nikoladze (men -70kg) and Ana Japaridze (women -52kg) won gold medals and Olympic quotas. Georgia could have had 3, but Sandro Mergelishvili lost to Israel's Adnan Milad in the final of the men's -63kg category. Japaridze and Nikoladze will be the first Para Taekwondo athletes from Georgia to compete at the Paralympic Games.

Zakia Khudadadi will be competing in her second Paralympic Games. GETTY IMAGES
Zakia Khudadadi will be competing in her second Paralympic Games. GETTY IMAGES

Ukraine's Yuliya Lypetska and Poland's Patrycja Zewar were the only athletes in the women's -57kg and -65kg categories to qualify automatically for Paris 2024. Greece's Eleni Papastamatopoulou and Hungary's Noemi Diana Ban battled for the gold medal in the women's +65kg category, with Papastamatopoulou winning the Olympic licence.

Spain had three lifters in Sofia, but only Joel Martin fulfilled the quota in the men's -58 kg category. Nikola Spajic (Serbia) was the best in the men's +80 kg and Aliskhab Ramazanov (AIN) won the licence in the men's +80 kg. This will be the second Paralympic Games for Lypetska and Khuddadai, while 8 other athletes will be making their Paralympic debut at Paris 2024.