Aman Kadyan is expected to compete at the Asian Olympic qualification tournament ©Facebook

Latika Bhandari, Kashish Malik, Aman Kadyan, Navjeet Maan, Purva Dixit and Rodali Barua are being tipped as outsiders to become the first taekwondo player to represent India at the Olympic Games.

Indian website The Bridge believes the six athletes have an outside chance of booking a place at Tokyo 2020 and making history for India.

No Indian taekwondo player has ever qualified for an Olympics.

Taekwondo was first a demonstration sport at Seoul 1988, and has been a mdeal sport at every Games since Sydney 2000.

To qualify, India’s hopefuls will need to finish in the top two of their weight category at the Asian Olympic qualification tournament.

The two-day competition was scheduled to take place in Wuxi in China from April 10 to 11 this year before moved to Jordan’s capital Amman and then postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A new date has yet to be confirmed by World Taekwondo.

Bhandari has been identified as India’s best bet to qualify as she holds an Olympic ranking of 59 in the 57-kilogram category.

The 26-year-old won the 2018 Fujairah Open and picked up silver in last year’s Faij Open.

Latika Bhandari is viewed as India's best hope to gain Olympic qualification ©Getty Images
Latika Bhandari is viewed as India's best hope to gain Olympic qualification ©Getty Images

Bhandari went out at the round of 32 in the women's under-53-hilogram category at last year's World Championships.

Aged 19, Malik is an ascending athlete and clinched gold at the 2019 South Asian Games in Kathmandu in Nepal.

Malik reached the quarter-finals at the 2018 Asian Games and is set to jostle with Bhandari for a coveted under-57kg slot.

A fine 2018 saw Barua triumph in the El Hassan Open and the World Taekwondo President's Cup Asia region before winning the India Open in 2019, and she is expected to compete in the women's under-67kg.. 

Competing at under-49kg, Dixit is ranked just inside the top 200 but will be boosted after clinching silver in last year’s India Open.

Kadyan arguably stands the best chance out of any of India’s male contingent of qualifying for the Olympics as he holds a ranking of 84th and is expected to compete in the under-58kg division.

Kadyan won the China Open and India Open in 2019 and clinched silver at this year’s El Hassan Open.

Maan is also set to represent India in the Olympic qualifiers but is ranked 189th in the world, so will need to produce some significant upsets to reach the Games.