The WT Grand Slam Champions' Series, a taekwondo Olympic trial, will take China's Wuxi as a permanent host, it was announced in Beijing on Monday.
The first edition of the Series, newly created by the sport's governing body World Taekwondo's executive board in South Korea last month, will be launched in November in Wuxi, Jiangsu province.
The Series, operated by Chinese company Xin Tai Lian and supported by the local government, offers direct qualifications for the Olympic Games as it is designed to have the same eight weight categories in each of the men's and women's events just like at the Olympics.
Athletes in each weight class accumulating the most points in the 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions will get berths in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
For the first time, high prize money will be provided in a taekwondo event as the winner gets 70,000 U.S. dollars with the overall prize money for the 2017 event reaches 800,000 dollars.
The Series also opens its door wider than previous events. Besides the Olympic champions, world championships and other Grand Prix winners, athletes with lesser sporting achievements can make it to the former competition as well through an open qualifier which starts in November.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)