U.S. Taekwondo Open: NTF president confident in country’s representatives

George Ashiru, President, Nigeria Taekwondo Federation (NTF), has expressed confidence in the ability of the country’s representatives to the ongoing U.S. Taekwondo Open in Las Vegas.

Ashiru told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos that the four male taekwondoists representing the country were in top form and would make the nation proud.

NAN reports that the championships, which kicked off on Wednesday, were a

G-1 event and one of the highest ranked taekwondo competitions in the U.S., organised by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

He said the four taekwondoists were U.S.-based and gave their names as Edwin Samson (-63kg), Saturday Bashir (-80kg) Usman Ussy (-58kg) Isah Adam Abubakar (-54kg).

“These athletes are foreign-based who spend more of their time training with current devices, and so, I am optimistic that they will shine and win medals for Nigeria.

“The taekwondo family is strongly behind them and we are backing them up with prayers because their victory will by extension bring honour to fans here,” he said.

The NTF president said that their participation in the championships was with the full support of the federation.

“They contacted us, for assistance to participate because the championships are a highly ranked event.

“We gave them necessary support, made their athletes licences available which made their registration and participation possible,” he added.

NAN reports that Abubakar was a two-time All Africa Games (AAG) gold medallist and Commonwealth Youth Games bronze medallist, while Ussy is also a Commonwealth and AAG silver medallist.

NAN reports that other African countries participating are Niger Republic, Senegal, Egypt, Uganda, Cape Verde, with no fewer than 200 athletes featuring in Kyreougi and Poomsae events.