The Para Taekwondo season is getting busier with four events lined up in Pan America, Europe and Asia.  Top Para Taekwondo athletes including Paralympic and World champion will be in action doing their final preparation before the Paralympic Games in Paris, this August.

The action started with the Pan Am Para Taekwondo Championships, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on May 3, 2024 which have 63 athletes (27 female and 36 male) from 14+1 countries in action.

Among the top names in action are: USA's Evan Medell (men's +80 kg), the Para Pan Am Games champion, Leonor Angelica Espinoza Carranza, Peru's Paralympic champion, and Mexico's Claudia Romero, ParaPan Am Games silver medallist and winner of Taiyuan and Paris 2023 GP in 2023, and refugee athlete Zakia Khudadadi, European Para Championships champion, all three women competing in K44 women's -47kg.

There will be local stars too including Paralympic champion Nathan Torquato (men's -63kg) and Worlds stars Maria Eduarda Machado Stumpf (women's -52kg), Silvana Mayara Cardoso Fernandes (women's -57kg) and Debora Menezes (women's +65kg), a silver medallist at ParaPan Am Games and bronze medallist a Worlds. 

This will be followed by Rio Para Taekwondo Open Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on May 5, 2024, contested by 48 athletes (19 female and 44 male) from 9 countries.

The focus will then move to Europe, with the European Para Taekwondo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia from May 9 to 12, 2024. The event, which will be held parallelly to the European Taekwondo Championships. will be contested by 89 athletes (38 females and 51 men) from 23 countries + 2 refugees + AIN athletes.

The field will have Paralympic and World stars including Turkey's stars Ali Can Ozcan (men's -58kg), European champion and bronze medallist at Worlds, Fatih Celik (men's -70 kg), Taiyuan and Paris 2023 champion and Mahmut Bozteke (men's -63kg), winner of Taiyuan 2023 GP and Manchester 2023 GP, Italy's Antonino Bossolo (men's -63kg), world champion and Paris 2023 GP champion, Israel's Asaf Yasur (M-58kg), world champion and Manchester 2023 and Taiyuan 2023 champion among others.

The women's field looks strong too with the likes of Great Britain's Paralympic stars Amy Truesdale (women's +65kg), Veracruz 2023 world champion, Beth Munro (W -65kg), Manchester and Taiyuan 2023 GP champion and Worlds silver medallist, Turkey's Gamze Gurdal (women's -57 kg), European champion and World silver medallist among others.

The month will culminate with the 9th Asian Para Taekwondo Open Championships in Da Nang, Vietnam on May 19, 2024 which will have 118 athletes (37 female and 81 male) from 25+1 countries.

Asian Para Games champions Bolor-Erdene Ganbat from Mongolia (M-63kg) and Uzbekistan's Guljonoy Naimova (W +65kg), also winner of Taiyuan and Manchester 2023 Grand Prix, will lead the star-studded field in De Nang.

Among other players include Uzbekistan's world champion Asadbek Toshtemirov, Korea's Asian Para Games champion Jeonghun Joo and Iran's Alireza Bakht (both competing in M-80kg).

Four athletes will represent their country at the Paris 2024 Taekwondo tournament. France announced its squad for the taekwondo tournament on May 3.

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