Through the Asian Qualification Tournament, which took place at the John Paul II Sports Center at the Assumption University of Thailand in eastern Bangkok, a total of 13 countries grabbed at least one ticket to the taekwondo competition of the London Olympic Games.

Jordan and Uzbekistan each took three berths for the London Olympic Games, while seven countries clinched two tickets. The seven are Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,

host Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Kazakhstan. China, Iran, Lebanon and Chinese Taipei each grabbed one ticket.

Reflecting the universality of the Olympic sport of taekwondo, a total of 14 countries in the Asian region clinched at least one ticket to the London Olympic Games as Korea already secured four berths through the WTF World Qualification Tournament, which ended in Baku, Azerbaijan on July 3, 2011 after four days of competitions.

Through the Asian Qualification Tournament, two Youth Olympic Games taekwondo medal winners earned their respective tickets to the 2012 Olympic Games. They are Jordan’s Dana Touran and Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Mamayev. In the women’s -49kg category, Jordan’s Touran, the silver medalist in the women’s -49kg category of the taekwondo competition at the 1st Youth Olympic Games, earned her country a birth. In the men’s -58kg category, Kazakhstan’s Mamayev, the silver medal winner in the men’s -55kg taekwondo division at the 1st Youth Olympic Games, took the second-place honors.

A total of 99 athletes from 30 countries in the Asian region competed for 24 places for the taekwondo competition at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The Asian Tournament was originally scheduled for Nov. 4-5 at the Mall Convention Center in downtown Bangkok, but was postponed because of the worst flooding in 50 years in Thailand.

The second and final day of the Asian qualification tournament, on Nov. 27, featured four weight divisions of the men’s -58kg, the men’s +80kg and the women’s -57kg and the women’s -67kg.

In the men’s +80kg weight category, China’s Xiaobo Liu won the gold medal as he beat his final opponent Tajikistan’s Alisher Gulov 9-6 in the final match. Uzbekistan’s Akmal Irgashev won the bronze-medal contest in the same weight division to qualify his country a ticket to the taekwondo competition of the London Olympic Games.

In the women’s -67kg division, Iran’s Sousan Hajipourgoli took the first-place honors as her final-match opponent Vietnam’s Dieu Linh Chu Hoang withdrew in the first round. Kazakhstan’s Gulanafis Altmukhambetova earned her country a berth to the London Olympic Games.

In the women’s -57kg division, host Thailand’s Rangsiya Nisaisom brushed aside a stiff challenge from Lebanon’s Andrea Paoli to win the final match 6-2 to earn her country the second berth to the taekwondo competition of the London Olympic Games after two days of the WTF Asian Qualification Tournament. Thailand already secured a ticket through the World Qualification Tournament. Japan’s Mayu Hamada clinched a berth to the taekwondo competition of the London Olympic Games in the women’s -57kg weight category.

In the men’s -58kg division, Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yang Wei took the first-place honors as he beat Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Mamayev 7-5 in the final match. Vietnam’s Chau Le Huynh qualified his country for the taekwondo competition of the London Olympic Games as he beat Malaysia’s Chong Ryan in the men’s -58kg bronze-medal match.