BACK-TO-BACK Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medalist Pauline Lopez will compete in the Wuxi World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champion Series starting on Thursday in China as she harnesses her bid for a possible qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Called the “Darling of Philippine Taekwondo” because of her stunning good looks, the taekwondo star out of Ateneo is hoping to hurdle the Asian Qualifying Tournament for Tokyo 2020 set April 10 and 11 next year that Wuxi is also hosting.
Lopez bared her plans after her successful SEA Games campaign in a television appearance on Sunday.
“That’s [Wuxi tournament] is the stepping stone for the next goal—the Olympic qualifying,” Lopez said.
Lopez also won gold medals in the Asian Championships, Korea Open and Pan Am Open. She clinched a bronze medal in the Singapore 2015 SEA Games and last year’s Jakarta Asian Games.
She beat Cambodia’s Aliza Chheoung, 12-4, to win the women’s under 57-kilogram gold in the recent SEA Games.
In the World Taekwondo (WT) Olympic rankings, five quota placements will be given to top ranked athletes in each of the eight weight divisions on the Tokyo 2020 program.
Five women—Great Britain’s Jade Jones, Korea’s Lee Ahruem, Russia’s Tatiana Kudashova, Turkey’s Irem Yaman and Canada’s Skylar Park—has so far earned spots in the flyweight division for the 2020 Qualifiers.