Kenya's Tae Kwon Do exponents end Turkish Open on sour note
The national Tae Kwon Do team train in Antalya, Turkey on February 11, 2022 ahead of Turkish Open.
What you need to know:
- Fourteen national teams including four from Africa (Kenya, Niger, Morocco and Central Africa Republic) competed at the Turkish Open, a ranking tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
- The Kenyan side leaves Turkey on Monday 6pm and is scheduled to arrive on February 15 at 1am.
Kenya’s remaining two exponents at the Turkish Taekwondo Open, Innocent Wafula and Shawn Michael Ochieng’, bowed out of the two-day tournament in Antalya on Sunday.
Both of them had earned first round byes in the draw held on Saturday night.
Wafula, who was seeded eighth, suffered a 10-1 quarter-final loss at the hands of ninth seeded Sari Yunus from the Turkish National team in the Senior Men (-87 kilogrammes) category which attracted 24 contestants.
Over a quarter an hour later, fifth seed Ochieng’ lost 18-8 against unseeded Kilic Yusuf from Turkey in the quarter-final of Senior Men (-68kgs) category.
The losses come one day after compatriots Milka Akinyi (lightweight), Everlyn Aluoch (middleweight), Sharon Nafula (bantamweight) and Mary Muriu (featherweight) were also eliminated.
Eighth seed Akinyi succumbed narrowly 14-13 to Cakal Sevval from Turkey in the round of 16. Wakoli suffered a 25-9 loss against Edanur Celik (Turkey) in the round of 16. Muriu, who was seeded eighth, got a first round bye in the draw conducted on Friday night before being outwitted by Moon Yeong Soon (South Korea) 20-10 in the quarter-finals. Aluoch lost 17-3 to Sila Gencer (Turkey) in the round of 16.
Fourteen national teams including four from Africa (Kenya, Niger, Morocco and Central Africa Republic) competed at the Turkish Open, a ranking tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The Kenyan side leaves Turkey on Monday 6pm and is scheduled to arrive on February 15 at 1am.
